Fortunes in the Sky
by CaveDwellers
Summary: Nobody can predict the future, least of all fortune cookies, but at this point Ruby likes to think she's good at rolling with the punches. [college age human AU, part of the Starry Eyed series, please mind the rating, cross-posted on AO3. Cover art by Spatial, used with permission]


**A/N: There were a few things I wanted to accomplish with this oneshot. Firstly, I wanted it to hold up as an independent piece to new readers (though it is, technically, the sequel/companion to Finding Cassiopeia in the City). Secondly, I wanted readers of Finding Cassiopeia to see the other side of the coin, so to speak (I imagine this remark will make more sense once you've finished reading). Lastly, I wanted to avoid creating OCs by using as many side characters from the show as possible. I didn't fully succeed in that last endeavor, but I am particularly proud of the use of two tertiary characters from Tiger Millionaire ;P**

 **About the rating: You really don't have to worry about explicit content until you're about halfway through the oneshot (and the turning point is pretty obvious). Until then it's just world building, emotional set up, a few truly awful jokes, and some swearing. ;D**

 **Finally, I'd like to give a ginormous shout-out to Spatial for beta-ing this for me! Seriously, thank you. Some of those typos you pointed out would have been completely embarrassing XD**

* * *

If given a choice, Ruby would pick checking IDs and taking cover money at the front of BC's Club over bouncing the back every time. Yeah, sometimes you come up against a belligerent douche who's so drunk they don't know right from left or "Come on in" from "Get the hell out of here", but she doesn't mind that too awful much. In fact, some days it's a godsend—bring it on, baby! The douchier, the better. There's just so much satisfaction to be found in slamming the door in some jackass's face, you know?

Of course, the same kind of excitement can be found in the back of BC's, too—jackasses are a pervasive species, after all. The back also has the advantage of being outdoors, where the relentless humidity of dancing bodies isn't near as overwhelming. All things considered, Ruby should prefer bouncing in the back—and maybe she would, if the back weren't also the smoking section.

It could be worse, she supposes. As far as addictions go, cigarettes don't kill you near as fast as other things. And it's not like she has the moral high ground, here—Ruby used to smoke cigarettes long before it was legal for her to buy them. That's also the problem, though: Ruby quit when she was nineteen, and these people are still going. Now, six years later, she can't stand the stench that persistently clings to her clothes at the end of the night, or the way a part of her still yearns to bum a smoke off of the person with the blue American Spirits standing next to her, despite everything. It would be easy; smokers are a fairly amiable bunch, and unless they're down to their last cigarette they are always willing to share.

Ruby inwardly harrumphs at her own contradictory nature and slumps against the brick wall by the heavy back door that separates BC's outdoorsy area with all of its fancy looking cast iron tables and chairs from the alley. She checks the time on her phone. Twenty more minutes until she can take the front back from the self-proclaimed Handsome Hank. She makes sure there is no lint clinging to her black-with-neon-print BC's Club tank top before shoving her hands into the front pockets of her knee-length cut offs and crossing her booted feet at the ankles. She doesn't miss smoking when she's up front.

"Ruby, you look grumpy!"

She glances up to see two of BC's regulars, Jenny and Buck, approaching her. They're both simultaneously casual and fashionable, as always, but Jenny is leaning against Buck like she's forgotten how to walk in her strappy gladiator sandals. Buck doesn't seem to mind, though. He never does.

"Oh, hey guys," says Ruby with a smile. At this point she's so used to having these two around that the whole night feels off if they don't pop in to say hi. They're such a fixture at BC's they aren't even charged cover fees anymore (not that Mr. Smiley, the owner, knows that, but everyone else on payroll does). "Jenny, don't take this the wrong way, but you seem wasted."

"We're here to support Sour Cream!" Jenny informs her, her words slurring slightly. "I'm celebrating for him, since he can't 'cause he's working."

Sour Cream is one of BC's three DJs. Just this last week there was a schedule change that gave him the prime spot from eleven to two in the morning instead of Lars—Ruby supposes that's enough reason to celebrate. Jenny has a really high tolerance, though, so Ruby can't help but wonder if something else is going on.

"You always say that," says Ruby. "You and Buck have been supporting Sour Cream's DJ-ing every night for six months now, Jenny."

"Well, he is good at it," says Buck. He speaks in a quiet monotone, but Ruby knows him well enough at this point to pick up his lighthearted inflection. At least one of them understands the excuse has been worn thin. "You can't help but rave to the music."

"Excuse me, are we allowed to go out this way?" asks one of the patrons. It's a woman in her early twenties—a university student, probably. If her over-the-top ensemble of skintight dress, pumps and makeup are anything to go by, then it's either her birthday or that of a good friend. She has her cell phone held up to her ear. "I need to meet someone outside."

Ruby wordlessly smacks the door's cold metal pushbar and lets the woman pass, which she does with hastily muttered thanks.

"Hey, can we get in this way?" some opportunistic soul calls from the alley. It's actually a pretty brightly lit alley, and an oddly well renowned mexican food truck that Ruby frequents is stationed there, so the fact that there are people here is not at all surprising.

"No. Go around." And Ruby pulls the door shut again with a loud clang. "So what's the occasion?" she asks, gesturing to Jenny's state of inebriation. "Not like you to go off the deep end."

"Pshh—I am not _drunk_ , okay?" says Jenny indignantly. She totters (from what, Ruby wonders? It's not like she's wearing heels), and her slender arm cinches around Buck's neck as she uses him to right herself. " 'M jus' a lil' tipsy-daisy. It happens s'mtimes."

"Uh-huh." Is it too obvious that Ruby's not buying it?

Buck shakes his head. Thanks to Sapphire, Ruby has gotten pretty good about reading in between the lines, but she can't figure this one out for the life of her. Has Kiki pissed Jenny off again? She's here with Buck while Sour Cream is DJ-ing, so it probably isn't relationship trouble…

Damn it. Now Ruby can't help how curious she is. "Is it—aw, hell, is that what I think it is? They're not even _trying_ to be subtle! Watch the door for me, Buck—hey, buddy! 'Scuse me!" Ruby knows her 5'2" stature makes her hard to spot sometimes, but she makes up for it by loudly announcing "Security coming through!" as she shoves her way through the dense crowd of midnight partiers to the man who's very obviously smoking a bowl right next to the door back into the building. "Hi there. Club security?" she says by way of greeting. As if the neon-green STAFF printed on her tank top needs explaining. Then she points to the piece. "I'm gonna have to ask you to put that away right now."

The man immediately scowls, and he lowers the pipe he had been raising to his lips. "What the hell'm I doing wrong? This 's the smoking section!" If his diction and slightly swaying stance is anything to go by, then he's even farther gone than Jenny, and it doesn't seem like he has a Buck-type friend around to keep him docile. What the hell is Hank doing up front, anyway? How has someone this deep in their cups not been sent home in a cab yet?

Annoyed more at Hank than the drunken pothead, Ruby jerks her thumb to the very large sign proclaiming 'Cigarettes Only' that is mounted on the bricks right next to her. "Pot's not legal in this state, buddy. Put the pipe away."

"I've done this n'clubs before—"

"—Then go to those clubs, and get _them_ in trouble on the state and federal level for blatantly smoking contraband substances. I won't ask nicely again."

"You weren't nice th'first time!"

"If you don't put it away," Ruby says. "I'm going to have to throw you out."

It's hard to say whether this would have happened no matter what, or if the man is making an exception because the bouncer's height and gender make him think he can get away with it. Nevertheless, he shoves his pipe into his pocket and lets out an angry growl. "I'd like to see you try, you fucking dyke!"

Ruby waits just long enough for him to raise a hand before she snatches his wrist and twists it sharply behind his back. He may be taller, but he's not stronger than her. "You're either going to leave by yourself with your dignity intact, or everyone in this club is going to watch this fucking dyke throw you out," she tells the man in a rough, but calm voice. The entire back is silent and watching at this point. Nobody is even taking a drag from their cigarettes. "Your choice."

He lets out an aggravated noise and thrashes to the point where Ruby almost loses her grip on him. "Get your hands off me!"

"Escorted it is." Ruby shoves him towards the back door a couple of steps before asking, "Oh, right. Do you have any personal belongings you'd like to pick up first?"

At the subsequent string of generic curses about her race, gender and sexuality, Ruby assumes he does not, and finishes throwing him out of the club without further fanfare. "Haven't had a feisty one in a while," she remarks as the drunk man continues to rage in the alley. All around her, conversations are picking up again. "That was fun."

"Damn, Ruby, you're so strong!" croons Jenny in admiration. She reaches out. "Can I feel?"

"Can you feel what?" It clicks as soon as she's done speaking. "Oh, jesus. Yeah, sure, take a look at this gun show!" Ruby strikes a showy pose, but she can't help snorting at the exclamation of childlike admiration that Jenny makes as she squeezes the pronounced muscles on Ruby's upper arm. This is ridiculous.

"My arms are not like that. Like, not even a little," says Jenny. She lets Ruby's arms fall to her sides as she demonstrates with her own bare, dark brown limb. When the results are less than satisfactory she pushes the skin below her bicep up to make her 'flexing' more impressive. "Do you eat power bars, or…?"

Even Buck has to laugh at that. He adjusts his ever-present sunglasses (yes, Buck wears his sunglasses at night; he is also quite sick of being serenaded with the eighties song that talks about it). "I actually think we're going to head out, too," he says. "Tell Sour Cream we'll be at my place."

"Sure, no problem," says Ruby amiably. She jerks her thumb out at the alley, where the drunken man is probably still raving about the indignities of being thrown out of BC's by rude dyke bouncers. "You might want to go the long way, though."

"He sounds way grumpier than you looked when we found you," muses Jenny as she finally abandons her flexing attempts. "I wonder what his problem is."

"I have a couple of theories," Ruby says.

"Are you okay, Ruby?" asks Jenny. "Normally throwing people out makes you happy."

She's right. Normally, it does.

"The smoke is driving me nuts tonight, is all," says Ruby, reaching up and plucking at the red ribbon that is, as always, tied around her forehead and afro.

 _"Oh."_ To Jenny's nearly-pickled cognition, this makes all the sense in the world.

"Maybe you should burn incense back here next time," Buck suggests.

"Right," says Ruby slowly. "Because sandalwood and cigarettes are the perfect combination."

He shrugs, and automatically reaches over to steady Jenny when she staggers again. Jenny slumps contentedly into his side. "It may help. You don't know until you try."

Leave it to Buck to say something like that.

"Goodnight you guys," Ruby says with a wave and an odd little grin as Buck wheels Jenny around and begins the process of guiding her out of the club while she simultaneously tries to start up cheerful conversations with everyone they pass (to be fair, most of them are regulars that she already knows). Ruby laughs a little and shakes her head at the sight. There's a reason those two are some of her favorite regulars.

"I couldn't help overhearing," says a lanky-limbed redhead that Ruby doesn't know. He and his much stockier brunette friend are leaning against the wall next to her with pints of beer and what looks like metallic magic markers in their hands. "If you don't like regular cigarette smoke, have you tried e-cigarettes?"

Ruby wrinkles her nose as she shoves her hands back into her pockets. "What are those?"

"It's basically vegetable oil laced with nicotine," says the brunette. "None of the usual cigarette carcinogens, and they taste delicious too."

Ruby gives a cautious sniff. What reaches her senses doesn't make any fucking sense. "You both smell like pancakes."

"This flavor is maple! Want to try?" The brunette man offers his metal magic marker—well, the e-cigarette to her.

Ruby pulls a hand out of her pocket and waves it around to indicate her disinterest. She makes a point to keep her voice amiable, though—these guys have been friendly enough. "Thanks, but no thanks. I quit all forms of nicotine a while ago, and huffing veggie oil doesn't sound any more appealing than the rest."

"That's fair," shrugs the brunette man.

"Good for you," says the lanky redhead. He waves his e-cigarette around. _"This_ is my form of quitting. I wish I had your willpower."

Ruby doesn't say that her quitting had nothing to do with willpower and everything to do with poor budgeting her first year living on her own, though she thinks she could probably get away with making a joke about it. She doesn't really want to get into that right now—just talking about cigarettes in the smoking section makes her itch—so instead she laughs.

That's about when Hank finally hauls his allegedly handsome ass into the back to take over for her, anyway, so it's just as well. "Sapphire says she heard a commotion back here a little while ago?" the large blonde man says.

How Sapphire manages to hear anything amongst the cacophony of music and laughter and conversation going on in the main room never fails to boggle Ruby's mind, but at this point she's prepared to believe that Sapphire can hear anything. "Of course she did," says Ruby dryly. It's no secret that they're an item, even if they don't act like it when they're both on the clock.

Hank, who sports a well-groomed and surprisingly not-creepy moustache, frowns. "So something actually happened?"

"Yeah," says Ruby. "I threw the guy out, though once he sees you on this side of the door I doubt he'll give anyone else much trouble."

"Ruby, why didn't you call for help?"

"Because I didn't need it?"

Hank pauses, and then shrugs. "Makes sense—oh, and I'm making Dan cover for me right now, by the way. You might want to take over soon."

"Shit, Dan's on the clock tonight?" Then, at Hank's nod and slight smirk ('Dashing' Dan is his fraternal twin brother, and while they both delight in their incredibly self-indulgent modifiers, Hank has no illusions about the sort of creature his sibling is), Ruby curses. "And you have him covering the front? Jesus, why don't you just punch me in the face while you're at it, Hank?" She stomps off before Hank can reply, and scarcely has the presence of mind to glance at Sapphire behind the bar as she marches by. It's just as well, because Sapphire's taking three different drink orders while also mixing a fourth. She doesn't need to be distracted any more than she currently is.

True to form, dashing-fucking-Dan is at the front door—and chatting up some buxom chick with hair extensions. The line is already twice as long as it needs to be, and people are starting to grumble. Ruby can't blame them.

"Thank you for absolutely nothing, now get back behind the bar," she says, shouldering Dan out of the way and swiping the ID-light from his good-for-diddly hand so she can start checking the legitimacy of people's driver's licenses.

"Calm down, Ruby. No one got hurt." Dan pats her shoulder condescendingly before resuming his conversation with his busty companion.

Ruby might have 'accidentally' stepped on his foot while reaching over to give someone change for their cover fee. She also might have 'mistakenly' elbowed him in the side when he got in the way of her checking the ID of a very pretty woman in a wheelchair.

"I could roll over his foot, if you want," the chair-ridden woman offers with a conspiratorial smirk. Her two companions start snorting and smothering their laughter in their palms, but neither of them look scandalized enough for this to be the first time this has happened.

Ruby does a suspicious and half-serious double take. "Are you offering, or are you asking for a bribe?"

She laughs and waves the subject off. "Don't worry, I've got this."

True to her word, that pretty lady rolls right over Dashing Dan's big toe. At his yelp of discomfort, she only shrugs and says, "Sorry, this doorway is a little narrow!" Then she and her two friends disappear into the writhing mass of dancing, drinking bodies.

For the next several ID checks, Ruby does a very poor job of concealing her laughter. That's okay, though, because the people at the front of the line also saw what happened and they are laughing with her.

"Okay, okay, I'm going back behind the bar!" Dan bursts out after another minute or so of this. Ruby can't help smirking as he saunters away. The large chested woman he's been talking to this entire time follows, but only after giving his ass a very obvious look-see and weighing her options.

Ruby snorts to herself. Yeah, good luck with that one, lady.

The next few hours pass quickly, and they go about as smoothly as can be expected for a popular dance club full of alcohol. Nevertheless, the silence always feels so damn loud once all of the patrons have been kicked out and the music is turned off.

"I kind of figured they'd be at Buck's place," Sour Cream says when Ruby passes on the message about his partners' whereabouts. He finishes coiling an extension cord and straightens to his full 6'3" with it dangling from one skinny arm.

Ruby pauses after lifting a few chairs onto one of the tables by the DJ's nook. "Yeah, about that—did something happen with Jenny, or…?"

Sour Cream grimaces and scratches the side of his neck. "Sort of? I don't know if I'm allowed to talk about it."

"Well, is she going to be okay?" Jenny may have only become a regular when Sour Cream started working at BC's six months ago, but they've gotten to the point where Ruby thinks of the other woman as a friend. She's concerned, at any rate.

Ruby recognizes the flash of blonde hair and brown skin in her peripheral as Sapphire approaching right before she hears, "Is there anything we can help with?"

Now Sour Cream is scrubbing a hand through his short white hair. "Not really. It's just school stuff…"

"Sapph's got a degree," says Ruby with a jerk of her head as she balances more tall chairs on round standing tabletops. "She might be able to help with tutoring, if that's the problem."

"Err." It's not like Sapphire not to have a clearly dictated response, and it's especially not like her to sound so awkward.

Ruby glances at her, befuddled and a little concerned. "Sapphire?"

Sour Cream, obviously uncomfortable, clears his throat. "Thanks for the offer, but Jenny's okay. We've been through worse," he says before shuffling off to finish packing up the equipment he brought with him.

"Hey Sapphire, are you going to help clean or am I going to be left all on my lonesome?" calls Jamie, the other bartender on duty tonight.

Just like that, Sapphire is back to cleaning glasses and wiping down the bar in a flash of neatly braided blonde. For her part, Ruby moves on autopilot as she finishes flipping the last of the chairs, and then sweeps up all of the ash and discarded cigarette butts out back. As the club's only female bouncer, it's also her responsibility to pick up the worst of the damage in the ladies' room so that the cleaning crew won't have a conniption fit when they do their routine in the daylight hours. Even with all of that, though, she and Hank and Dan are all still done before the crew behind the bar.

"I'm thinking greasy chinese food," Ruby says to Sapphire, leaning against the polished wood as her partner locks up the fanciest liquor in its appropriate cabinet.

Sapphire tsks, both working and prosthetic eye glinting playfully under her blonde bangs. Despite the chaos of working in a popular dance club, not a single hair seems out of place. "Don't tell me you're tired of the taco truck!"

"I will never say so to Victor's face," Ruby replies with a stern point of her finger. Victor is the owner and primary operator of the illustrious taco truck in the alley. "But I like to diversify my late night after-work meals sometimes."

She checks her phone as Sapphire chuckles and Jamie gasps and clutches at his chest dramatically. "Well, I'm going to tell him you said that when _I_ get a burrito in fifteen minutes, like a loyal customer!"

"We saw Victor last night," says Sapphire. "We're allowed to be loyal customers to multiple businesses."

Ruby has a single text, and it's from Amethyst. _'hey bring me food biatch this sesh is runnin late'_

This isn't terribly surprising. Amethyst works at a 24-hour tattoo parlor some eight blocks over, and she often works on clients long past the time the club closes at 2 AM (and subsequently solicits Ruby, her friend and roommate, for food deliveries). She likes to say that her muse is more cooperative when the sun is out of the picture.

Ruby ignores Jamie as she types _'chinese okay?'_

Texting would have been an ordeal, if not for the swipe feature. Prior to its release Ruby used either her awkward, non-dominant right hand or risked whatever clumsy spasm that came with her left, which was deeply scarred from an incident with a butterfly knife when she was a teenager. With the help of the swipe feature she's been texting a lot more these days, if only because it is more convenient than trying to talk over whatever atmospheric noise is happening on the other side of a phone call.

"Amethyst, I presume?" is Sapphire's guess as the reply comes in with a cheery _bling!_

Ruby snorts. Is it really a presumption when there's only one option? "Who else texts me at two-thirty in the morning?"

 _'git me somma dat spacy general tsaos chicken ;P'_

 _'k'_

Of course, just because Ruby texts more now doesn't mean she's become verbose. Some habits die hard.

"Well, all this talk about food is making me hungry," Ruby begins.

Sapphire snorts. "You're the one who started the conversation about it, remember?"

Ruby waves that off and looks expectantly to the two bartenders. "Are you two going to finish your chores any time soon or what?"

"I second that opinion," says Handsome Hank. He's twirling his keys to the club around one thick index finger. "I'd like to lock up before three AM."

"Yeah, and I'd like to clock out!" adds Dashing Dan from the corner that he and his buxom lady friend are pointlessly occupying (he's also breaking the rules by not kicking her out, but Ruby knows that nobody will say anything about it; they've all broken that rule at some point or another).

Sour Cream and his equipment are, as one might expect, already long gone. It's just the staff here now.

"We're moving, we're moving," Jamie mutters.

There actually isn't much left for the bartenders to do, so they have split the tips and filed onto the sidewalk within the next fifteen minutes.

After they wave Jamie off to the taco truck and Ruby has pointedly ignored Hank and Dan and Dan's large-chested lady friend (but Sapphire's said goodbye for both of them), they stroll off in the direction of Ruby's car. Sapphire's shivers and pulls her brown leather jacket closer about herself. Even though it's not that cold out, Sapphire is used to working in the humidity of a crowded room, so her reaction to the crowd-less night air is, Ruby supposes, understandable on some level.

That, and she decided to wear a flowy maroon crop top with the usual skinny jeans and flats tonight. When your shirt is basically a sail for any random gust of wind, it's really no wonder if you feel a little more night-air-on-skin contact than usual.

"You're not cold," Sapphire says, taking in Ruby's tank top and frayed cut offs. "At all."

"No, I'm not," Ruby replies. "I don't know why this surprises you as often as it does. I don't get cold. How many times have we had this conversation?"

Nonetheless, she can't help the squeal that leaves her mouth when Sapphire suddenly grips her bare arm. "Jesus christ, woman, get those icy mitts off me!"

Sapphire clearly doesn't feel like listening, because all she does is wrap her arm around Ruby's and thread their fingers together. Ruby lets out an only half-faked shudder at her girlfriend's chilly hands. "It's only October, what is wrong with you?" she can't help asking.

"My frosty persona clearly has physiological consequences," Sapphire deadpans. She manages to hold a nonchalant expression for about twenty seconds before they both start laughing.

"Yeah, no kidding." Still, since Ruby is apparently not being released any time soon (not that she can complain about it, really; she enjoys this casually affectionate contact more than she is able to say) she feels compelled to help somehow. With her free hand she reaches over and tries to rub some circulation back into the taller woman's fingers. "Is this helping at all?"

"Not really. It's just making walking awkward."

She's right, it is. Ruby is practically tripping over herself.

"Here, I have an idea." That's all of the warning Ruby gets before Sapphire lets go of her arm and slips a hand into the back pocket of her cut offs instead. Ruby swears she can feel Sapphire's chilly palm through the denim, but even if that were only an illusion she's _knows_ the gratuitous squeeze of her ass cheek is not.

"I feel warmer already," says Sapphire primly.

It only takes Ruby a second to catch up. Slinging a companionable arm around her girlfriend's lower back, she quips, "Why Sapphire, I didn't realize you were a fan of hot crossed buns!"

The predictable hiss of "God damn it, Ruby" is all she needs to grin widely. Sapphire doesn't move her hand, though, so she can't be that annoyed.

If she's being honest, Ruby is kind of enjoying this, cold hands and all.

It's also pretty amusing to have Sapphire helpfully tug Ruby's cell phone out of her other back pocket and pass it over when it _blings!_ again.

"Still Amethyst?" Sapphire tilts her head so they can read the text together.

 _'n Vi says she want some sweet n sour pork yo'_

"Sounds like the shop is hopping right now," Ruby remarks as she texts back a _'k'_ of acknowledgement.

"I hope Amethyst's client is okay with us dropping by."

"I'm sure they'll be fine if we give them a fortune cookie or an eggroll or something," says Ruby dismissively.

By this point they have reached Ruby's red '94 Honda civic. It doesn't have electric locks or windows, so she passes Sapphire the keys to open it as the latter disentangles herself. In the meanwhile, Ruby navigates to her night sky app to see what's out tonight (well, this morning; whatever).

Astronomy is a fairly new interest for Ruby. It started out as fascination during a meteor shower some six months back, and it's only snowballed from there. Ruby loves learning about the stories behind the constellations, what sort of navigational purpose they served for travelers in the past. Her mind is boggled by the vastness of the scales and distances of and between stars, and she always feels a moment of triumph when she can think of a colloquialism that breaks either of them down into human-scaled terms.

Of course, knowing how many times you'd have to drive across the United States before you've traveled to the moon (so to speak) really doesn't make the distances any less ginormous, but it does make that ginormousness comprehensible.

"Apparently, Orion is right above us," she says, craning her head back to squint at the sky. It's not overcast, but all that's visible from this part of the city is indigo sky tinted orange from the light of the street lamps. It's also kind of hazy around the edges from the smog—and don't even get her _started_ on the way the storefronts and skyscrapers crowd in and only ever leave her the smallest of radii to gaze at. She thinks she _might_ see the faint twinkling of Sirius off to the side, but that's probably just wishful thinking. Either way, no part of Orion is visible from here. It never is, from the club. Ruby looks back at her phone. "I'll have to take my app's word for it."

"It's been a couple weeks since we last went out," says Sapphire from the newly unlocked passenger side of the car. She tosses her ever-present tote-sized purse to the floor mat and rests her arms along the top of the window frame, and the orange street lamps glint off a her dyed blonde hair. "We should do that again soon."

Ruby smiles. She loves that Sapphire enjoys stargazing as much as she does. They're not good astronomers by any stretch of the imagination, but the fact that it's something they can do together is… it's hard to describe how it makes Ruby feel, exactly, but it's good. It's all good.

"When's the next day we both have off? Tuesday?" she says, pocketing her phone and catching her keys with her right hand when Sapphire casually tosses them to her over the roof.

"I'd have to double-check the schedule, but that sounds about right," Sapphire says as she ducks into the Honda. She pulls her own phone out of her jacket as Ruby starts the car, already placing their order for takeout from the all-night chinese restaurant. Getting greasy chinese food in this city is so convenient it's almost frightening, really.

"Actually, that reminds me," Ruby says as she pulls out into predictably nonexistent traffic (it is quarter to three in the morning, after all). "I have no idea where I left the ceremonial martini glass."

The first time they went out amateur-stargazing together, Sapphire—ever the bartender—had insisted they make a drink that fit the occasion. Her idea had been to mix hot cocoa and fireball whisky, but nothing had really gone the way either of them planned. The martini glass Ruby found in the back of her car had only been the tip of the iceberg, really.

Sapphire snorts so loudly that Ruby has to wonder if she's started choking on her own saliva. "Never—again—" she gasps, and while she's clearly trying to sound authoritative she's laughing too hard to properly manage it. "Do you realize how _wrong_ it was to be drinking straight fireball whisky from a martini glass?"

"Eh." Ruby shrugs and affects a passive demeanor because she knows it gets a rise out of her partner. She hopes Sapphire doesn't see how hard she is trying not to laugh in the light of the dash. "It's your own fault you forgot the thermos of hot cocoa at home."

"But you had a random martini glass in the trunk of your car, Ruby. Who does that?"

They've had this conversation before, but it never really gets old.

"I told you, I don't even know how it got in there!" It's even odder because Ruby actually keeps her car pretty clean, and she is positive she has never owned a martini glass in her life. But who the hell goes around leaving random martini glasses in people's cars? "Besides, you had the choice to drink straight from the bottle and you know it."

"But that's just so— _wrong!"_

"Sapph, that's just the bartender in you talking. You've been through college. You've seen worse cases of alcohol abuse."

Something about Ruby's quip makes Sapphire go oddly quiet. It's just for a moment, but it feels too much like her uncharacteristic lack of coordination with Sour Cream earlier. "Did you want the usual?" she says before Ruby can remark upon it.

"Huh? Oh—yeah, beef and broccoli is fine. You're adding veggie lo mein too, right?"

"Obviously. What good is chinese takeout without lo mein?"

"I'm just checking, okay." Ruby pauses, braking at a stop sign, and then asks as she turns onto a side street, "What about fried wontons? We can make Amethyst pay for it, as a thank you for bringing her food at all."

Sapphire snorts, but she still says, "Okay, but I'm sending the order in before you get any more ideas. Tips weren't _that_ great tonight."

She's right. Tonight's tips were so-so (they would have been excellent if Dashing Dan's smarmy ass hadn't been there, Ruby thinks sourly; the useless chump).

It isn't until Ruby snags a prime spot less than a block away from the chinese restaurant that Sapphire remembers, "Hey, what was that commotion in the back earlier tonight all about, anyway?"

"Had to throw a guy out for smoking pot," Ruby says as she cuts the engine but leaves the radio playing softly in the background. There's no way their order is ready yet, and waiting for it here in the car sounds leagues better than awkwardly standing by the registers.

Sapphire laughs aloud. "I can never get over how ironic that is," she says.

Ruby gestures helplessly, though now that the car is still she thinks she can smell the stench of old cigarettes radiating from her clothes like the worst kind of perfume. "If he had been subtle about it, maybe I would have been able to let it go. But my opinions on pot don't matter when I'm being paid to keep it out of the club—speaking of which." She tugs at the scoop-neck of her tank top and gives it a sniff. She immediately regrets this choice. "God. I smell like a fucking ash tray."

This statement is greeted with a sympathetic noise that does absolutely nothing to reassure Ruby that she smells like anything else. "Someone spilled a pint of beer all over the bar, and it splashed on me. So I smell like sour beer, if it helps?"

Does she? Ruby sniffs. Oh yeah, she definitely does. "We are so attractive right now, Sapphire, hot damn," she says with a dramatic gesture.

"We cloak ourselves in only the finest scents of sin and revelry," Sapphire deadpans. "None of that skeezy cheap shit."

"Well, I mean, obviously." Perpetuating the joke is too much, and they both dissolve into giggles. Nevertheless, Ruby must add, "But seriously, I am going to take a shower the instant we get home. I may even have to scrub my hair—is it in my hair?"

Sapphire obligingly leans over and sniffs at the tight curls of her afro. "Yes."

She could have at least _tried_ to make it sound like the stench wasn't overwhelming.

Ruby groans and drapes her arms over the steering wheel. "It's going to take days to make my hair behave again," she grumbles.

"You always smell like cigarettes after work," Sapphire points out. "Why is it suddenly bothering you so much now?"

"Just a bad day for old cravings, is all," Ruby mutters, letting out a breath and resting her chin on her arms. "You know how it goes."

Actually, Sapphire technically doesn't, because she has never smoked a single cigarette in her life (she's better off, in Ruby's opinion), but Ruby's emotional reaction to cigarettes periodically waxes and wanes, and after being together a little over a year Sapphire certainly knows all about that. That's what Ruby is referring to right now.

"Well, for what it's worth." Here the taller woman reaches out and gives the end of one chin-length curl a small, affectionate tug. "I love it when your hair's all messy."

Ruby can't help the small grin that plays over her lips as she tilts her head towards the taller woman. "Yeah, but don't you usually like it when it's your fault?"

"Who's to say it can't be?" Sapphire's hand has officially moved to begin massaging the back of her neck. Her fingers are still a little chilly, but that almost adds to how pleasant this is.

A part of Ruby is very much aware of the innuendo, but the rest of her is sighing happily and melting all over the steering wheel. "Sapph, how are you not a masseuse?" she mumbles.

"Because you would be my only customer, and taking your money seems a bit like shooting myself in the foot."

Ruby snorts at the dryness of her statement. "I'd call you a smartass if this didn't feel so nice."

There is a smile in Sapphire's voice as she replies, "So what will you call me instead?"

She hums, pretending to consider. "She of the clever fingers? That's got a pretty nice ring to it."

The resulting laugh is so intense that it causes Sapphire stops massaging entirely. Instead, she leans her forehead into Ruby's partially-bared shoulder and half-heartedly smacks her denim-covered thigh. "I should have seen that coming," she mutters, more amused than exasperated.

For her part, Ruby is grinning hugely. "I take it you approve, then?"

Sapphire lifts her head and starts to answer, but she pauses for the music that has just started playing. Ruby is one of those people who can't stand the pressing silence of driving without some ambient white noise, so the radio is always on in her car—whether anyone pays attention to it is another matter entirely, but it's hardly a surprise that Sapphire's noticed. She pays attention to everything.

"Oh, I love this song." She turns up the volume and sings without missing a beat, "I can't help it if I make a scene."

Ruby smiles. She loves Sapphire's singing, she really does. It's not like it's a rarity—Sapphire's always singing along with the radio, and she performs with her guitar at open mic nights on her days off—but no matter how many times Ruby hears her, it never gets old.

"Stepping out of my hot pink limousine," Sapphire continues. She backhands Ruby's stomach to get her to join in.

Ruby shakes her head. Sapphire's singing is divine, but hers doesn't really bear mentioning.

"I'm turning heads and I'm stopping traffic." Sapphire pushes at her leg this time. Her good left eye is supplicating, and in the light of the dash her coaxing smile looks like it could have been carved in loving detail by Michelangelo himself. Honestly, if Sapphire weren't singing Ruby might have leaned forward and kissed her right then and there.

"When I pose, they scream, and when I joke, they laugh."

Oh, what the hell. It's three in the morning, and they're holding an impromptu stakeout in her car for chinese food. It's not like anyone else is going to hear it.

"I've got a pair of eyes that they're getting lost in!" sings Ruby with a theatrical gesture and much batting of her eyelashes. It seems only appropriate, and she is positively delighting in how hard Sapphire is struggling to keep a straight face.

"They're hypnotized by the way I'm walking!" they belt out together. By the next line they've fallen into harmony—contrary to popular belief, Sapphire has a much lower range, so it's actually Ruby who's singing the melody—and they maintain it for the rest of the song.

Ruby doesn't sing the last "Now everyone can see me burning", choosing instead to fall silent in order to let Sapphire close it out. Then she finally gives in to the urge to lean over the center console and press their lips together. Ever so lightly, she feels Sapphire's fingers ghost across her hip. She gives a playful tug to the hem of Ruby's tank top as she pulls away. In the cool green light of the dash, Ruby can see her smiling, and it's fucking beautiful.

"You know who's burning right now?" asks Ruby.

Sapphire groans, and then visibly decides that she won't touch that question with a metaphorical ten-foot pole. "Think it's been long enough for the food to be ready?"

"Maybe? I haven't exactly been keeping track of time."

There is a sudden bright glow as Sapphire checks her phone. "Yeah, I'd say they're just about done. I'll go grab it—give me your half of the bill?"

Ruby obligingly hands over the bills, already sort of rumpled from their brief time in her pocket. She is rewarded with a quick peck just before Sapphire takes her leave. Ruby offers an ironic sort of wave through the window as her partner departs, but she can't wipe the stupid, dorky smile off her face as she fiddles with the volume on the radio (the next song isn't near as fun and charismatic, which is a pity). It's not much of a surprise. She's so forehead-over-ankles in love with this woman it's not even funny. These last six months of not only fully giving into that, but also knowing that Sapphire _reciprocates_ , have been some of the best of Ruby's life. She can't believe how lucky she is, how blessed she feels.

Ruby is happy, really and truly _happy_. She doesn't think there has ever been a time in her life of reckless brawls and negligent foster homes that the notion has ever been so acute.

"What are you so smiley about?" asks Sapphire as she ducks back into the car a few minutes later. She's partially teasing, but she's also genuinely curious. The car also now smells very much like orange chicken, which is a definite step up from smelling like secondhand cigarettes and beer.

"Oh, you know," Ruby says as she turns the engine. "Just thinking about my favorite _star."_

Sapphire makes a noise that's exasperated and also simultaneously entertained. "This is revenge for making you sing that song with me, isn't it?"

"Maybe…" Still, Ruby can't help snickering as she drives. The tattoo parlor is actually not that far away—less than fifteen blocks—and because of the late (early?) hour they make good time. There is also a decent parking space available, which almost never happens.

"Did she ever say who she was working on?" asks Sapphire as Ruby pockets her keys and comes around to open the passenger door.

"Nah," says Ruby as she takes the cardboard flat of takeout that's resting on her girlfriend's lap. Sapphire doesn't mind—instead, she takes the opportunity to quickly squeeze a few saline drops over her prosthetic eye before grabbing her reusable 32-ounce water bottle and locking up the passenger side of the Honda. She uncaps the canteen and takes a half-conscious sip as they walk up to the brightly lit business. Along with the eye drops, carrying a water bottle with her at all times is how she combats the dehydration that causes her glass eye to stick at awkward angles. She got the prosthetic after a childhood accident—long before she and Ruby met two and a half years ago—and she's an old hand at dealing with it now.

"Well, I hope they don't mind us barging in," says Sapphire.

"We come bearing gifts—what's there to mind?" says Ruby, lifting the flat pointedly. "I'd even be willing to offer one of the wantons Ame's paying for."

The tattoo parlor Amethyst works at, Inkcredible Design, is understandably not as crowded as the club, but there are about a eighteen people present at the moment. The buzzing of tattoo guns is punctuated by amiable conversation and the enthusiastic rock music playing from the speakers mounted on the walls all around the shop. It's all pretty much par for the course for this particular business—when they say 24-hour, they aren't joking. If someone wants to walk in at three in the morning and start plans for an elaborate set of sleeves, there will be someone there to take the job.

Amethyst actually does have three-in-the-morning regulars, but the gal she's working on right now isn't one of them. Ruby doesn't recognize her (which, honestly, isn't saying all too much). Her skin is pale, her hair is cut short and choppy around her chin, and dyed a dark navy blue. She's built like a Disney princess, all graceful lines and delicate joints, and if the look on her face is indicative of anything then she's trying to convince herself that she has a higher pain tolerance than she actually does. She's getting something done on her back, but Ruby can't see the details from the front of the shop.

"Hey Vi, how's it hanging?" Ruby says companionably as she plunks the chinese food down on the coffee table in the lobby area of the shop, far away from the sterile environments that Amethyst and the other artists work in.

Vidalia, perched on a bar stool just outside of Amethyst's work area, offers a small smile as she waves and smacks her gum. She is rarely without a chunk of chewing gum in her mouth. At this point, Ruby is convinced she does it because she's bound and determined to break some kind of world record. It would be the kind of strange and obscure thing that Vidalia would aspire to do.

With her dramatic fifties-era makeup; flaxen-colored, Farrah Fawcet-styled hair; and eternally half-lidded eyes, Vidalia always appears to be lost in thought or stoned. Her voice, faraway and detached, only perpetuates the farce. Because it is, without a doubt, only a façade—Ruby has witnessed Vidalia dive headfirst into some of the most intense philosophical discussions she's ever heard, and she and Amethyst are some of the wildest partiers that Ruby knows (which is really saying something, considering where Ruby works).

Aside from selling various oil paintings of Amethyst's copiously tattoed form, Vidalia also works at Inkcredible Design as a piercer and tattoo-apprentice. A large part of her apprenticeship consists of several hours of observing how professional tattoo artists work and picking up techniques visually, which makes it utterly unsurprising that she stays with Amethyst and her clients into the wee hours of the morning. It's hard to say, exactly, just what Vidalia and Amethyst are to each other—they spend a lot of time together, obviously, but whether they're just friends, friends with benefits, and/or actual lovers? Ruby has never been able to tell. To be fair, though, she doesn't tend to ask a lot of questions about that sort of thing. That's more Sapphire's shtick.

True to form, Sapphire is already leaning her arms on the chest-high half-wall separating everyone else from Amethyst's sanitary workspace. There is a soft thunk as the pendant at the end of her overly-long necklace knocks against the divider. "Food's here, whenever you two get to a decent stopping point," she says, though she is craning her head with interest. "Those wings are coming along great, by the way."

Ruby, curious now, leaves the food to wander over and check it out herself.

Sapphire's right. The line work of two large, feathered wings over the young woman's shoulder blades is exquisite, and Amethyst is about halfway done with shading the right one at the moment. Even through the small beads of blood and angry red skin, Ruby can see that this is one of the best tattoos her roommate has ever done.

"Shit, Ame, this is beautiful," says Ruby with feeling. "Is this the design you've been slaving over the last couple of days?"

Amethyst, brows furrowed in concentration, only grunts over the buzzing of the tattoo gun. Between the way she's leaning over her work and the low-cut collar of her black blouse, the brilliantly purple fist-sized tattoo of her namesake set between her breasts is basically on full display. Her wild, streaked hair has been pulled back into a careless bun, but she hardly seems to notice the chunks that have escaped to dangle next to her cheek. Let it never be said that Amethyst doesn't take her tattoos seriously.

"I'm taking that as a yes," Ruby says. "Just so you know."

"Actually, it's been a while since we last took a break," the blue-haired woman says. She flexes her delicate looking hands. She doesn't move her head or the slender shoulders that Amethyst is carving into, but it's pretty obvious that she wants to.

At first it doesn't seem as though Amethyst is paying attention, but then the buzzing stops and she sits back in her stool. "Yeah, okay." She peels off her plastic gloves and gestures over the divider before cracking her knuckles—which are tattooed with the words LADY and LUCK, respectively. "Lapis, this is my roommate Ruby and her partner Sapphire. They're about to rip me off over some chinese food."

"Does that mean you're going to give me the money without bitching about it first?" asks Ruby with a grin.

"That's not even close to what she said," Sapphire informs her.

Ruby flashes the taller woman a sharp look. "It's only fried wontons. We were in agreement on this earlier."

"Eh, whatever, I like wontons anyway," says Amethyst as she flicks her gloves into the trash can. Then she leans over and grabs a hospital gown, which she helps to secure around Lapis' nude torso without touching or irritating her freshly tattooed skin. "Don't feel bad about getting this dirty," she says as she tapes over half-done tattoo with saran wrap as well, to keep it clean. "I've got like ten of 'em."

"Oh, it's more than that," Vidalia says from the lobby area.

Amethyst mutters "that's not the point I was trying to make" with a little bit of a scowl. She says to Lapis, "Anyway, we can take fifteen and scarf down some chow, but I don't want to take too long."

"Okay, sounds good," Lapis says with a nod of her blue head. If she feels at all uncomfortable wearing nothing but dark leggings and hospital gown, it certainly doesn't show. With pale cheeks like hers, a blush would be easy to see from a mile away.

With that, Amethyst stands and makes an avid beeline for her carton of general tsao's chicken. "You ordered the spicy one for me, right?"

"Of course," says Sapphire as she and Ruby follow suit, with Lapis trailing along behind. "We've done this before, you know."

Amethyst, who along with Sapphire was raised bilingual, replies in Spanish. She relishes having someone else to talk to in her second native tongue, and she also doesn't give two shits about Ruby's struggle to keep up with her. As such, Ruby identifies a couple of words, but they're all out of context. She assumes it's something snarky, though, because of the way Sapphire's shoulders tense as she replies.

Now, when Sapphire talks in Spanish it's a lot easier for a fledgling speaker like Ruby to follow along. She's still just a shade too quick about it, though, so Ruby is still lagging behind trying to capture the gist of it.

Well, whatever Sapphire just said, it's shut Amethyst right down. The tattoo artist harrumphs half-jokingly, and then seems to count the number of takeout boxes. "Hey, wait, did we not give you Lapis' order?"

"You did not," says Sapphire. She picks up the empty carton Ruby is only now realizing was on the cardboard flat all along. "Which is why I thought to bring this. I figured Lapis can take whatever she wants from all of our dishes."

"Yeah, alright," Ruby says, scratching under the red ribbon she has tied around her forehead and afro. There aren't enough spaces on the couch or the single armchair in Inkcredible Design's lobby for all five of them to have a seat, so she takes one for the team and plops down cross-legged on the chilly tile. Sapphire sits in the armchair behind her and gestures for Ruby to use her legs as a backrest, though, so it's not all that bad.

It isn't until Amethyst, Vidalia, and Lapis have settled on the couch and everyone has given Lapis a portion of their food that Amethyst and Ruby simultaneously dive in for the fortune cookies.

"This one!" cries Ruby after winning the minor scuffle. She holds her prize aloft. "This one is the best one, I can feel it!"

Amethyst scoffs. The life-like barn owl she has tattooed on her upper arm flexes as she gestures. "Like hell it is. _My_ cookie has the best fortune."

"Um, what?" says Lapis blankly.

"Have you never played the fortune cookie game?" asks Vidalia, miraculously without gum for the moment (she claims she's tried to chew gum and eat food at the same time, and that it's never ended well).

Lapis raises her eyebrows, which are dark and not dyed blue at all. "No?" she says uncertainly.

"Okay, I'll demonstrate." Vidalia leans forward and grabs a cookie without discretion (amateur, Ruby thinks). She doesn't bother with the food itself when she breaks it open, but instead goes straight to the little strip of paper. "You have a friendly heart, and are well admired," she reads.

"In bed," Ruby and Amethyst say in unison. Then they cackle, and Ruby knocks her knuckles against Amethyst's LADY hand in celebration.

"Roomie powers!" decrees Amethyst.

"Roomie powers," Ruby agrees.

"That's it?" says Lapis flatly. "You just add 'in bed' to every fortune?"

"You're making it sound a lot less funny than it actually is," Ruby informs her. She reaches behind herself and pats Sapphire's skinny-jean covered calf. "Babe, show her what I mean. Read yours."

"What happened to yours?" asks Sapphire, though it's pretty obvious she's just doing this to be facetious.

"I'm saving the best for last, obviously."

Sapphire makes a doubtful noise, but she still catches the fortune cookie that Vidalia tosses to her. After some rustling, she reads, "You lead a useful life, no matter what riches are coming to you. In bed."

Amethyst and Vidalia burst out laughing, and even Lapis manages to giggle.

"Well, what do you think Ruby? Accurate?" asks Vidalia with a smirk.

"Yeah, I suppose I can corroborate that," says Ruby. She leans back against her partner's legs and tries to meet her blue eyes upside down. "Eh?" Her raunchy grin fades when she notices the expression on Sapphire's face. "Sapph, what's up?"

After a beat Sapphire shakes her head and smiles. She crumples the fortune in her fist. "I was just lost in thought. Sorry. I've definitely had funnier, though."

"That's true," Vidalia concedes. She nudges Amethyst's leg with her own. "Read yours, Ame. Show Lapis what a good fortune sounds like."

Ruby is still frowning at Sapphire, her neck angled awkwardly over the latter's knees. There's something familiar about what Sapphire just said, but she can't quite put her finger on it.

When Sapphire notices this, she smiles and murmurs, "I'm fine." Then she starts massaging Ruby's shoulders—and wow, Ruby hadn't realized she was so tense. She's sure there's a stupendously dopey expression on her face right now, but hell if she cares; she's getting a fucking amazing massage and that's all that matters.

"Hey," Amethyst tells her. "You drool on my floor, you clean it up."

"That's fine," Ruby replies, hanging her head and letting out a happy sigh as Sapphire's thumbs dig into the muscles of her shoulders. "Totally worth it."

Above her, Sapphire lets out a little chuckle. It's not like she's surprised, she's just enjoying the reaction.

"Fortune," says Vidalia—she even makes claps her hands as if to say "chop-chop!"

At first Ruby wonders why Vi seems to be in such a hurry, but then she remembers that Amethyst doesn't want the food-break to last too long. Right, right.

"Okay." Amethyst clears her throat and breaks open her cookie with flourish. "You will always get what you want through charm and personality. In bed." There is a pause, and then they all laugh like the young adults they are. Amethyst gestures smugly and smirks. "Yeah, I'd say that's pretty much me."

Vidalia rolls her eyes, which are actually a pretty nice honey color under all of that makeup. "A lot of men say that, too—and do you know how far that gets them, A?"

They all crack up at that—Vidalia's delivery is superb, if nothing else—but Sapphire laughs particularly loudly. This makes a lot of sense, if you're familiar with her history with the male half of the population. She's known about her disinterest in men for well over a decade now, but it wasn't until Ruby that she finally stopped trying to pursue romantic relationships with them to appease her well-meaning family's expectations. It's not a long or complicated story, and Sapphire's certainly not the only woman who can tell it, but it is no less poignant for all of that.

"Yo, them's fightin' words, Vi!" says Amethyst with mock-sharpness. Still holding her broken fortune cookie, she balls up her tattooed knuckles and rolls them through the air as if in imitation of boxing. "You wanna go? You wanna get into fisty cuffs with the Purple Puma?"

"Fisty cuffs?" says Lapis incredulously. "Is that some kind of sex term?"

Ruby can't help the way she roars and bangs her fist on the coffee table. Where did Amethyst even find this girl?

Behind her, Sapphire has bent over double to rest her forehead between her shoulders. She's practically wheezing, but she still manages to get out, "If it isn't, it is now!"

This only makes Ruby laugh harder.

"The Purple Puma is your favorite wrestler from MMA. Liking him does nothing to improve your own fighting prowess," Vidalia says over Sapphire and Ruby's noise. Her voice is utterly flat. If she were chewing gum right now, she would be apathetically popping a bubble just to prove how unimpressed she is. "I have four older brothers. I'd like to see you win a round of fisty cuffs with me."

"Does she not hear what she's saying?" Ruby wonders. Tears of mirth are streaming down her face, and she thinks she can feel Sapphire mopping her own brown cheeks with the back of Ruby's tank top.

"Oy!" shouts a male tattoo artist from the other end of the parlor. "Some of us are trying to do our jobs here!"

"Ah, shaddap!" is Amethyst's mostly amiable response. "You just wish you could have fun like we do!"

"Is this a regular thing?" Lapis asks nobody in particular. She is either impressed or perturbed. Or both.

"Eh, mostly," says Amethyst with a shrug. "Sapphs and Ruben both work at BC's Club, so they're about as nocturnal as the rest of us."

"He's not actually mad," Vidalia assures the blue haired girl. "That's just what he sounds like."

"Okay, I'm doing my fortune now. This is going to be the best," says Ruby, straightening up and ripping open her fortune cookie without a care for the crumbs that fly in every direction. It takes all of her strength to read without snickering, "You are gifted in many ways. In bed."

Everyone is vulnerable from the fisty cuffs comment, and that is probably why they laugh so goddamn hard now—even Lapis, who still doesn't look like she fully appreciates the entertainment value of the fortune cookie game, finds a way to giggle.

"What can I say?" says Ruby, brushing imaginary dust from her shoulders. "The fortune cookie knows."

"Does it, though?" This jokingly-skeptical question wouldn't be surprising if it came from Amethyst or Vidalia, but the real kicker is that it actually comes from Lapis. The blue haired woman is looking to Sapphire for a response.

Curious, and with her shoulders still bouncing with giggles, Ruby braces her hands on her knees and twists around to see how her partner handles this.

Sapphire shrugs. That's it. Just shrugs.

"I should be insulted," says Ruby.

"But are you, actually?" wonders Sapphire.

"Okay, okay. Last one," says Amethyst, inadvertently interrupting her roommate's response. Her words are a little muffled, as her mouth is full of lo mein and spicy general tsao's chicken. She gestures to her client with her chopsticks. "Go, Lapis!"

"Alright…" Lapis doesn't seem near as enthused as the rest of them, but she humors Amethyst anyway. "There is a true and sincere friendship between you both. In bed."

"Aw, that's kind of cute," coos Vidalia as she stubbornly utilizes a fork instead of chopsticks to eat her sweet and sour pork.

"Yeah, but who is the other?" asks Ruby. "I feel like that only works if you're involved with a specific kind of person."

"Eh," Amethyst grunts from around her chopsticks, clearly not impressed. "They can't all be winners."

Lapis is looking at her fortune critically. "It's really accurate for those on the ace spectrum," she says. "You could say that the fortunes are keeping that in mind?"

"Good for them, being PC about it," says Sapphire dryly. "Except, somehow, I don't think that's at all what they were thinking when they wrote it."

"If I wrote out fortune cookies, I'd keep the fortune cookie game in mind," says Vidalia.

"Speaking of which," says Ruby, even though what she wants to talk about isn't apropos of anything being said in the current conversation. She holds out her scarred left palm to Amethyst and Vidalia while she uses her right to pick at her beef and broccoli with her chopsticks. "You still haven't paid me yet. Remember: I know where at least one of you sleeps."

Lapis suddenly looks very confused. "How—" she starts.

"Don't ask. It's just what they do," Sapphire says.

"Don't look at me," Vidalia tells Ruby. She crosses her legs at the knee and rests one arm on her leg as she jerks her other thumb at the tattoo artist. "It's Amethyst's turn to pay this time."

And pay Amethyst does, albeit with much grumbling. Ruby isn't offended, and pockets the cash with the smirk of she who is on the receiving end of extortion. The tattooing trio finishes their food quickly after that, eager to get back into it. Ruby takes over the couch as soon as it opens up while she and Sapphire finish their de facto dinner at a decidedly slower and unrushed pace, calling jokes and banter across the room to Amethyst's work area all the while.

"How much longer do you think you have?" asks Ruby as she and Sapphire are getting ready to head out.

It takes Amethyst a second to hear the question. Then she says over the tattoo gun, "Another hour and a half, probably, but I'm crashing at Vi's place tonight."

If the look on Vidalia's face is indicative of anything, then this is news to her. She is chewing gum again, and she pops a bubble in the next instant, so Ruby can only assume she doesn't mind.

"Sounds good," says Ruby, yawning and stretching her arms above her head. "The apartment's closer than Sapph's place, so I think that's where we'll probably end up."

"It was nice meeting you, Lapis," says Sapphire. "That tattoo is going to be incredible when it's done."

"Thanks," says Lapis, who is lying on her stomach with her arms folded in front of her and her chin propped upon them. Her voice is a little strained from discomfort—and understandably so. She smiles anyway. "I've been wanting it for a while, so I'm glad I'm finally just—doing it."

"Oy, stop moving," barks Amethyst, pulling the needle away. "When you talk, you move without realizing it."

"Oh, sorry." And Lapis cooperatively rests her cheek in her folded arms. "I won't move. Please continue."

Vidalia snorts. "Ah, such wonderful bedside manners."

"I don't need to hear from the peanut gallery," Amethyst grumbles as she leans over to resume shading. She then adds something in muttered Spanish that Sapphire snorts to and Vidalia tsks at despite her lack of understanding.

Ruby and Sapphire leave them to it, though they are both chortling as the rock music of Inkcredible Designs fades behind them. "I can't wait to take a shower!" says Ruby. "I smell like a greasy ashtray now."

"Well, whose fault is that?" laughs Sapphire as Ruby manually unlocks the passenger door to the red '94 civic.

"Obviously not mine, otherwise I wouldn't be complaining about it, now would I?"

"You can't see it because it's dark, but I'm rolling my eyes at you," says Sapphire as she drops her water bottle onto her tote bag.

"Aw, Sapph, I'm so touched by your overflowing compassion!" croons Ruby as she puts the car into gear. She does not, however, actually leave the parking spot. "But hey, serious question: do you actually want to spend the night, or did you want to get dropped off at your place instead?"

"We'll have the place to ourselves," says Sapphire. "Of course I'm spending the night."

Ruby grins at her partner's tone, so flat and obvious. The only thing that would have made her sentiments clearer is if she had tacked a "duh" to the end of it. "That's sort of what I thought, but I just wanted to make sure," she says as she sets the car moving in the right direction.

"Ruby," Sapphire says as dark windows and street lamps roll past her window. Her voice is soft, not at all like the playful tone she was just using. "Have you ever wanted to travel?"

"Travel where?"

"Anywhere. Everywhere. You were born and raised in this city—haven't you ever wanted to see what other places are like?"

"Of course I have," admits Ruby. She brakes at a stop light and drums her fingers on the steering wheel as she waits for the signal to go again. "More and more these days, since we started looking into all of this astronomy stuff—like, seeing aurora borealis is on my bucket list now. And I really want to go out far enough to see the milky way and all of the tiny, tiny stars the light pollution eats up even at our usual spot."

"Well, I mean, that too," says Sapphire haltingly. "But I'm also thinking bigger than that, Ruby. Different countries."

Ruby almost asks 'what's in other countries?' until she remembers that Sapphire's bachelor's degree is in international fucking socioeconomics. She's actually already lived out of country, since she spent a year on foreign exchange in China just before she and Ruby met. It only makes sense that she would be looking to put her degree to use sooner rather than later.

It makes sense, especially in the context of the awkward pauses concerning school and job references that's Sapphire's been taking all night, but Ruby feels blindsided anyway. There's a sinking sensation in her gut that drains all of the contentment and security she knew not ten minutes ago right out of her.

 _So what does that mean for us?_ She doesn't say it, but the words keep echoing louder and louder in her mind.

The light has turned green, but it takes Ruby a second to actually see it. Were there anyone else out at this hour, someone surely would have honked at her.

"You, uh—you're thinking about going for it?" she says as she drives. Her throat is abruptly dry, and she swallows. Her fingers grip the steering wheel.

"There's a position in Taipei that would be perfect for me," says Sapphire quietly. "I'd have to apply within the next six weeks to have a chance, though."

"Taipei?"

"Yeah. It's in Taiwan."

"Where they make everything?"

A small, but mostly humorless laugh. "There is a lot of industry in the country, but not that city specifically," Sapphire says.

Ruby turns into the parking garage under her apartment building, which is honestly within walking distance of Amethyst's workplace. "And you already speak the language, I assume," she says as she turns into her spot.

"Yes. Because it's a Chinese-speaking country, and I have fairly good command of the language already from my year abroad, it would be an easy transition, relatively speaking."

Ruby cuts the engine. "Well, I think you should go for it." She reaches up to tug on her headband, and lets out a laugh that's squeakier than she intends. "What's the point of having the degree if you don't use it, right?"

She leaves the car before Sapphire can reply, which really isn't good form, but she's reeling. She needs to pace, to _move—_ to, at the very least, take the stairs to her apartment on the third floor instead of taking the slow-as-molasses, creaking elevator.

She hears the passenger door slam just before she feels somewhat chilly fingers snatch at her own. "Ruby." Sapphire's not outright imploring, but she's close. "I didn't mean for this to feel so sudden."

"Yeah, well, it does!" snaps Ruby as she wrenches her arm away. She blinks hard, trying to dispel the fog that seems to have taken over her vision, and then she realizes.

Oh great, now she's tearing up. Just fantastic. This can't even wait until they're in the fucking apartment, can it?

"Ru…" Sapphire tries touching her shoulder this time, and while Ruby doesn't miss the look of hurt that crosses her girlfriend's face as she is shrugged off she also can't help it. She doesn't want to be touched right now. She doesn't even want to _think._

Sapphire doesn't say anything more, but that's probably because Ruby's thrown open the door into the stairwell and begun tromping up the first flight. The echoes here are quite loud, and anyone who's listening at any of the landings would hear everything if they were to continue this discussion, so things are understandably put on hold until Ruby is locking the apartment door behind them and kicking off her boots. She wriggles her bare toes over the thin, shitty carpet, getting used to the sensation of freedom.

By now, Sapphire has developed a somewhat stunned look of realization, "Ruby, do you think I'm doing this to get away from you?"

"I don't know what to think!" Ruby barks. She swipes angrily at her wet eyes. "Aren't you the one who's always preaching about more communication? Aren't _you_ the one who's always pressuring me to talk to you about everything, never leave you 'out of my process'? I guess all that isn't meant to go both ways, though, is it? Do as I say, not as I do? Is that how it is?"

"I found the opening yesterday," says Sapphire. Her voice is tight and monotone. She's shutting down—never a good sign, but right now Ruby is so upset she doesn't care about performing damage control. "How much more notice would you like to have, Ruby?"

"Oh no, don't you get all high and mighty on me," Ruby growls, jabbing a finger under her girlfriends pert little nose. The force of her motion kicks up a little breeze that ruffles Sapphire's characteristic blonde bangs, but Sapphire doesn't flinch. "I didn't even know you were looking!"

Sapphire's blue eyes narrow slightly through her hair, but her expression remains carefully stoic. "I didn't know if I'd find anything. I wasn't going to make a commotion over nothing."

"That is such shit—Sapphire, that is such _shit!"_ Ruby stamps her foot and swings one fist out to the side in a savage gesture. "You were in the top five percent of your graduating class—you speak three fucking languages _fluently_ —but you don't think you'll be able to find work in your field. In fact, you're so sure you won't be able to do it that you didn't think it would be necessary to even mention it to me? Not even a 'hey Ruby, just so you know, I'm thinking of moving out of the country. No big deal, just window shopping'. Because even _that_ would have been way too much fucking trouble for you. Is that what you're trying to tell me?" Except Ruby is so incensed right now, and her vision is so blurry, that she doesn't give Sapphire a chance to defend herself before she's shouting, "Yeah, I'm fucking worried, Sapphire—the last time I did something like this, weren't _you_ worried?"

It takes a long, long time for Sapphire to reply. Ruby isn't intimidated by the silence; she just glares hard, her jaw set and her chest hurting. Keeping this information from her isn't an outright lie, but it is lying by omission, and if there's one thing Ruby cannot _stand,_ it is being lied to. That this lie is coming from someone she cares so deeply about, someone she trusts so much—someone she loves more than herself—cuts her to the quick. Does Sapphire even realize?

After their big fight six months ago, where they both found out they wanted the same things and were just too scared to bring it up, much less ask for it, you'd think they would have learned their lesson about communication. Apparently not.

At first Sapphire meets Ruby's volatile glower with icy indifference, refusing to be guilt-tripped. When it comes to a contest of will it is typically Ruby who loses, but Ruby is in the right this time, and she refuses to apologize for something she hasn't done. Not this time. Not about this.

Ever so slowly, Sapphire's ice is melted away by Ruby's fire. By the time she speaks, her voice has been reduced to something soft and vulnerable, "Yes."

That's all the warning Ruby gets before the single tear tracks down Sapphire's cheek.

Just like that, all of her self-righteous fire is gone. Instead she is filled with a barrenness that can only be described as vacuous and cold. Something inside of her breaks.

What has she done?

"No, no, no. No, Sapph, please don't cry. I didn't mean to yell—I mean, I was only—I just…" She reaches out and makes as if to touch Sapphire's face, maybe rub the tear away, but she hesitates at the last second. Her mouth works soundlessly as her hand hovers in the air, but then she forces it back to her side. "I'm sorry." Her voice comes out small, filled with so much culpability. As if that's going to fix anything. She grimaces and grinds the knuckles of her left hand into her temple. Her eyes are burning, but that doesn't matter right now. None of what she's feeling matters, because she's just screwed up. "This is all my fault. I'm the one who started jumping to conclusions; I'm the one who started being argumentative. I'm not being constructive, I'm just being a jackass. I'm so stupid—"

"I don't think you're stupid." For all that Sapphire speaks in a whisper, Ruby ceases as if she's shouted. She stares, mouth agape, as Sapphire brushes her bangs out of the way and looks her in the eye. "You're right. I haven't been talking to you," she says. "I've been too terrified. I should have told you about this—if nothing else, I should have talked about being scared. But everything's just been so _good_ for us recently, I didn't…" she lets out a breath and looks away, purses her lips together. "I didn't want to ruin any of that. I wanted things to be good for as long as possible, and look how well that turned out." She gestures vaguely with one hand.

"Why were you scared?" asks Ruby. Then she stops and looks back at her behavior from the last ten minutes. A squeak of dismay leaves her, and she rubs at her face with both hands. "Nevermind. You don't have to answer that."

"You don't scare me, Ruby." Then, at Ruby's derisive snort, Sapphire says in a stronger voice, "You never have. You have every right to be upset with me—if I can't talk to you about stuff like this, _especially_ after pushing you so hard to talk to me, what kind of partner am I?"

The title gives Ruby pause. Her hands fall back to her sides. Right now, she doesn't know whether it soothes or stings, but it's doing something. "We never did talk about all those grown up things, did we?" she mumbles.

"Knowing we can and actually needing to have the conversation are different," says Sapphire. "Knowing you wanted to be with me as much as I wanted to be with you was all I needed. Being able to talk about moving in together, one day—knowing we were both thinking about it for the future, even if we weren't ready for it now—used to be more than enough."

"So why did that change?" asks Ruby, shifting her weight from one bare foot to the other. It is, she thinks, more mature than pacing.

"It's like you said: I didn't get this degree just to let it rot. I want this to be my career, but I—I don't know how to ask you…" Sapphire trails off with a small grimace and wraps her arms around her own torso. Talk about self comforting gestures. "It's just too much."

"What is?"

She shuts her eyes briefly and lets out a long, slow breath through her nose. "I don't know if I could do something this big without you, Ruby," she says, meeting Ruby's gaze straight on. "And frankly, I don't want to find out—but this is so much more than just getting an apartment together. This is asking you to leave _everything_ —your home, your country, your friends, and yeah they speak a lot of English in Taipei, but the whole _country_ isn't like that. Why would you willingly subject yourself to that, just so we can stay together?"

Ruby doesn't know what to say. Sapphire really thinks she needs her that much?

Ruby thought she was used to being wanted, to being _loved_ , but something like this…

"Yeah, it's a lot," says Ruby. She shifts her weight again, and her fingers twitch uselessly at her sides. "But is it fair to assume that you already know my answer, without ever actually asking me what I think?"

"I—" Sapphire starts, and then she falters. A new expression crosses her face, and Ruby sees her hands flex from where they are wrapped around her abdomen. "What are you trying to say?"

"I'm trying to say that I want to talk about it," says Ruby. "I don't know if I can come up with a hard answer tonight, but I want to—I don't know, make a list of pros and cons together. Or something." She reaches up to fiddle with her headband, drag it further down her forehead. She doesn't know how to articulate what's going on in her mind right now. Grown up shit like this has never come easy to her. "I don't have any actual real reason to stay in this city—I just want to keep learning astronomy, but the sky is obviously still going to be there, wherever we end up, so it's not like that's a problem. It's still a lot to think about, though. There-there's a lot of logistics to sort through."

Like passports—or would they need visas? Or, wait—are those two different terms for the exact same fucking thing? Ugh. A _lot_ of logistics.

"I know," says Sapphire softly. "And I know it sounds like it, but I'm actually not looking for an answer right now. We just—we promised we'd take the world on together, but this isn't the usual everything, and as much as I want you with me I couldn't force you to do something that made you miserable. I just… didn't want to find out if this could be it." She pauses and looks at the ground, her cheeks coloring what would have normally been a very endearing rosy shade. "That sounds really, really selfish when I say it out loud."

Ruby finally steps in and allows herself to cup Sapphire's cheek, gently tilting her up so they can make eye contact. Sapphire's good left eye is a little pink around the edges with emotion, but she doesn't mind. "The last time I thought I was being selfish and wanting too much, it turned out you wanted it just as much as I did," she murmurs, her thumb stroking over soft brown skin. "We just need to talk to each other through grown up shit like this, Sapph. That's our problem."

Sapphire lets out a weak laugh as her arms uncoil. Slender hands navigate under the hem of Ruby's tank top to rest over her sides. When Ruby leans in a little, Sapphire closes the rest of the distance and kisses her. They take their time, and their soft push and pull becomes an exchange of emotion as much as a physical action. As Ruby's arms slip around to hold her under the leather of her jacket, fingers splayed over the maroon drapes of her crop top, Sapphire only ever shuffles nearer.

This isn't a resolution, or an end to the discussion, but it's a start. Right now, that's good enough for Ruby.

Sapphire strokes Ruby's hips from under her tank top and presses her forehead against her red ribbon when the kiss ends. She lets out a tender little giggle when Ruby rubs the tips of their noses together. "You're really going to think about it?" she asks, and Ruby doesn't think she's ever heard Sapphire so vulnerable. Her voice is pinched like she's trying so hard not to ask for other things, or just outright admit to something else entirely.

That, more than anything, tells Ruby just how much this means to her. How much Ruby being there means to her. Ruby knows she's important to Sapphire, but this feels like a totally new level, one she didn't think they would ever—could ever—reach.

"Yes." Of course, the nature of this conversation does nothing to stop Ruby from reaching between them, taking hold of the zipper on Sapphire's leather jacket, and pulling it down. "I still want to shower first, though," she compromises, already pushing the jacket from her partner's shoulders. She leans in and brushes her lips across Sapphire's cheek. "Come with me. Please."

"I wouldn't have it any other way, Miss Greasy Ashtray," Sapphire says with a slow growing smile as she allows her jacket to be sloughed to the floor. She drapes her arms over Ruby's shoulders.

"That's _Madam_ Greasy Ashtray to you, Spilled Beer Lady."

Sapphire begins to retort, but instead shrieks and clutches at Ruby's shoulders with new purpose when Ruby scoops her up bridal style and carries her into the bathroom. "Ruby, what are you doing? Put me down!" she demands over her own childishly delighted giggles. Her cheeks are a bright rosy color. It's fucking precious.

Sapphire is the loveliest being Ruby's ever known, and at the end of the day nobody makes her happier. Their current position is case in point: Ruby has never been able to be so goofy in her past relationships. Not without being accused of not caring enough, at any rate.

Ruby isn't sure she can see herself living without this now that she's found it. She knows she's lucky that she and Sapphire can fight and still be able to act like this afterwards; she knows a connection like this is hard to find and even harder to keep. Isn't it something worth fighting for—or, at least, going outside of your comfort zone for?

Honestly, she may not have much of a 'choice' in this moving matter after all.

"Why would I put you down when I could do this?" she asks just before she leaves a wet, obnoxious kiss on the slope of Sapphire's neck.

The latter bites off a surprised squeal as Sapphire squirms in Ruby's arms until she is dropped onto her own two feet. That accomplished, she immediately claps her hands over the sides of her neck for protection. The apples of her cheeks have turned are a very rich shade of mahogany. "You _know_ how much that tickles!"

Ruby is laughing so hard that she has to brace herself on the sink. It's the expression on Sapphire's face, she can't help herself. "So worth it," she manages after Sapphire has taken off her flats and half-heartedly kicks one of them at her. "Oh, god, I regret nothing!"

She's still not sorry when Sapphire kneads her hair out of its french braid and flicks the tie at her arm with a mutter of, "You're such a shit, Ruby."

She's even less sorry when Sapphire's flowy crop top lands on her head.

"Shall I be even more of a shit to make you take off the rest of your clothes?" she quips with a smirk as she drops the shirt to the floor—only to be hit in the face with a c-cup bra from Victoria's Secret.

"You're lucky I also need a shower," Sapphire informs her with mock-terseness while she removes her eye makeup with some lotion and toilet paper, still wearing her skinny jeans. Her necklace and earrings are in a small pile on the bathroom counter by her elbow.

Was that… supposed to make her feel bad, somehow? Ruby really doesn't see how she's on the losing end of this. Like, at all.

The walls are fairly thin in this apartment complex, and the squeal from the neck-kiss had been louder than usual, so that's probably why Sapphire's so embarrassed about it. It also probably makes Ruby a little vindictive to think that riling her up is so wonderful, but there you have it.

"Guess so." Ruby's still chortling as she shucks her own clothes from her body. They fall to the floor with a puff of stubbornly lingering stench of old cigarettes. She loosens the knot on her headband and piles it on top of Sapphire's jewelry. Ruby has been wearing that red ribbon for years now; it's the staple of her appearance. Regardless of her actual state of dress, she always feels sort of naked without it.

She purposely brushes past Sapphire on her way to turn the knob on the shower. She also can't help glancing at the latter's already hardened nipples as she waits for the water to heat up—well, that and Sapphire's perky round breasts are a true thing of beauty, but that's the obvious part, isn't it?

That's about when Ruby notices that Sapphire's blue eyes are trained on her ass as she shimmies out of her own panties and skinny jeans, so it seems they are both total shit at subtlety. Perfect match.

That being said, it's not a huge shock when Sapphire grabs her by the posterior and pulls her in until their thighs and bellies are bumping together under the warm spray from the shower head. She's also quite happy to accept the thorough, openmouthed kiss that Sapphire initiates—this is quickly turning into one of _those_ kinds of showers, but Ruby doesn't mind. Sapphire tastes like veggie lo mein and orange chicken, and when it's on her tongue that's really not such a bad combination.

Not that it's a terrible combination on its own, but that's not the point.

"Need help washing the cigarette stench out of your hair?" asks Sapphire with an opportunistic grin.

Ruby smiles as her palms rove down the taller woman's sides and over her thighs. She knew this was coming; Sapphire leaps at every chance to play with her hair. People without a head of natural curls tend to be like that, but while it usually makes Ruby a little uncomfortable (it's sort of fetish-y, isn't it? It's _weird)_ she doesn't mind the attention if it's coming from Sapphire. "Well, since you're offering, I _guess_ I could let you do it," she drawls.

That's all of the encouragement Sapphire needs before she's grabbing the conditioner. Curly hair like Ruby's doesn't benefit from the use of too much shampoo, and she already used some on it the other day (actually, Sapphire was there for that as well, they spend most nights together these days), but conditioner is always a safe bet. This particular brand doesn't really have a definable scent—unless 'non-offensive salon smell' counts—though it's leagues better than smelling like BC's. Cooperatively, Ruby turns around and lets the taller woman work the conditioner through her wiry curls, massaging her scalp as she goes. It feels nice, but Ruby's pretty sure that her contented sigh is lost over the sound of the water pounding around them.

"I'm always so impressed by how much longer your hair is when it's wet," Sapphire remarks, flopping an elongated lock of hair off Ruby's shoulder. "Have you ever tried straightening it?"

"Nah," says Ruby. "It'd be too much time and effort for a flat iron, and I don't like the idea of relaxers, either—that shit can burn your skin if you leave it in too long, nevermind your hair. And it's expensive."

Sapphire makes a noise in her throat that marks her personal agreement with Ruby's hair aesthetic. "I like it better this way, anyway." Still, Ruby feels a tug as her girlfriend experiments with pulling one curl as far down as it'll go. "But, fun fact: if you did have straight hair, it would be to the middle of your back by now."

"The more you know," Ruby says, amused.

She startles a little bit when she feels lips press into the side of her neck, and though the water is hot somehow Sapphire's tongue is that little bit hotter as it flicks over her skin. Ruby leans back into the taller woman's arms, and lets out a little grunt of encouragement at the hand that reaches around to touch her left breast. She doesn't have much to fondle, but Sapphire always seems to find enough to hold on to. A little moan leaves her when Sapphire rolls her nipple in her fingers.

Ruby doesn't miss the hand that's slipping down her right side, either. She does, however, tip her head back against Sapphire's shoulder when slender fingers rub against her clitoris. She reaches around and holds onto Sapphire's hip to steady herself—or maybe it's just so she can feel the blonde woman's breasts press a little more firmly into her back. Same difference.

Teeth nip lightly at the side of her neck, just enough to get Ruby to open her eyes (when had they closed?). From her perspective just under the angle of Sapphire's jaw, she can still see the other woman's tentative smirk of satisfaction.

Sapphire tilts her head and mutters into Ruby's ear. "Do you even understand how sexy it is when you melt into me like this?" Ruby lets out a grunt as Sapphire punctuates this dialogue with a sharp tweak of the nipple. She also moves her fingers lower, rubbing against Ruby's labia. Teasing. "Put your foot on the ledge of the tub for me?"

Ruby does as she's told with an eager sort of "Yes ma'am", and now she really is holding onto Sapphire's hip for balance. She is rewarded, however, when two fingers take advantage of this new openness and push inside her. They are not quite tentative, but they are exploring. Looking for something. Whatever is it, Ruby kind of hopes they never find it, because she's already arching her spine and panting, and she wants this to last. While Sapphire is capable of multiple consecutive orgasms, Ruby is not; she's got what Sapphire's currently building her up to and maybe one other in her, if she's lucky. She doesn't quite know what Sapphire's planning, doing this so early on, but right now her brain is too fogged up with pleasure for her to care.

 _And to think,_ she tells herself with somewhat dizzy pride. _She didn't know how to do any of this when we first got together._

"You're even hotter than the water," says Sapphire softly, squeezing her breast and quirking her fingers in such a way that Ruby lets out a hiccup of a moan that surprises them both. Sapphire rubs at the spot she's just found, and a smile enters her voice when Ruby involuntarily pulses around her. "You're searing hot."

"I'm an eternal flame, baby," Ruby manages to quip. Her eyes are half-lidded, and while a part of her knows she's looking at the corner of the ceiling she's not really seeing it right now. Her brain is too fogged up—it's a good kind of fog, sure, but it's still foggy. "Not even shower water can put this fire out."

Sapphire loses her concentration when she snorts, and she rests her cheek against Ruby's head as she recovers. "Stop it, I'm trying to be seductive."

"That's cool, don't mind me," says Ruby with a wave of her hand. She braces it on the shower wall afterwards, and tilts her head to the side to give Sapphire more room when she starts licking water off her throat again. "I'm just trying to think straight."

Another snort. Sapphire's nose presses into the crook of her neck, and Ruby can feel her shoulders bounce as she giggles behind her. "Really? You're getting fingered by your girlfriend, and you're trying to think 'straight'?"

It takes a few seconds for Ruby to get it, but in her defense Sapphire's fingers have started to speed up and it's pretty fucking distracting. "Oh yeah," she grunts. "Poor choice of words, huh?"

"'Fraid so, baby." And just like that, her fingers are gone.

Ruby, feeling cheated, reestablishes cognitive control of her eyesight and shoots the blonde woman a frown as she pulls all of her limbs back to herself and shuffles to the other end of the shower (it's not that far away, but it's the _symbolism_ of it). "Hey, it's not like I said it intentionally!" protests Ruby.

"And yet." Sapphire still can't seem to help the smirk that plays at the corners of her full lips as she squirts body wash onto the bright blue dollar store loofah. She holds it out. "Do you want to start, or should I?"

Ruby, grumbling under her breath in mostly cosmetic frustration, swipes the loofah from her girlfriend's hand. In actuality, this interruption isn't so bad—Ruby doesn't mind the waiting, really; it's what helps her get the most out of her one-or-two climaxes during sex with Sapphire. All of the anticipation never fails to pay off in the end.

Sapphire can't seem to help laughing as Ruby scrubs the loofah over her stomach and sides. "You should see your face right now." She kisses the tips of her fingers and then gestures with them like they're the individual seeds of a dandelion she's just made a wish upon and blown apart.

"You think you're so funny, don't you?" says Ruby.

"Know so." Sapphire ducks in and presses a short but nonetheless affectionate kiss to Ruby's lips before she's spun around so Ruby can wash her back. "Are you smiling?" she asks as Ruby slops her long hair over her shoulder.

Of course she knows.

"No," says Ruby in her gruffest voice. It wouldn't be any fun to give Sapphire the satisfaction, since—you know, there's a lot of denial-of-satisfaction going around right now.

"Yes you are."

"What makes you so sure?" asks Ruby as she finishes washing her girlfriend's arms.

"I can feel it." Abruptly, Sapphire spins about and steps in so that their torsos are flush, their breasts bumping and their bellies pressing together through a thin layer of water. She moves so quickly that Ruby doesn't have time to rearrange her face in a scowl, and of course Sapphire spots it. "See? I knew it," she says with a smirk.

"Just give me your leg."

Sapphire does oblige, in a way. Well, she shifts her hair back over her shoulder, hooks a leg around Ruby's hips, and then leans in until their lips are brushing. She curls one arm around the back of Ruby's head and sifts her fingers through her wet curls. The pupil of her good left eye is fat with arousal, and its gaze is heavy as Ruby brushes her flattened bangs out of the way.

"Am I being helpful?" she asks, though it's pretty clear she already knows the answer.

Ruby snorts and decides to take the completely mature and not at all retaliatory route of simply washing what she can access of the leg around her. She doesn't complain about how inefficient this is, but from this proximity she does hear the little frustrated noise Sapphire makes in her throat.

"Ru…"

"Come on, other leg," Ruby says with a brisk pat to her girlfriend's outer thigh. The sound of it is eaten by the pounding of the water. "Let's finish what we started."

Sapphire cooperates, but the tilt of her lips makes it obvious that she expects some kind of compensation for it. The bitch—she _knows_ what a sucker Ruby is for meeting her expectations. There's something stupidly satisfying about taking a demanding woman up on her sexual challenges and then reducing her to a puddle of rubber limbs and quivering breaths.

Ruby is stubborn, though, so she does actually finish washing what she can of Sapphire's other leg before dropping the loofah to the bottom of the tub and slipping a hand between them. Sapphire sucks in a breath and lets it out as a small moan as Ruby's fingers enter her and begin moving. Seems that Ruby's not a special case; while the shower water is warm, Sapphire's body is much hotter. She's already sleeked with arousal despite the water all around them, too (and, judging by the feel of her, she's been this turned on for a while), and Ruby quickly falls into a rhythm.

There is no ceremony or subtlety to Ruby's movements right now, and the muscles in the leg that Sapphire has draped over Ruby's square hip tighten more and more the rougher Ruby gets. She tries to roll her hips with Ruby's fingers, but that's easier said than done considering the fact she is standing on one leg. "Ngh, Ruby," she groans. Her head and shoulders tilt back as she leverages her pelvis forward, and Ruby quickly wraps her free arm around Sapphire's lower back to keep her from toppling them both. This new stability, of course, only encourages Sapphire to lean back more, arching her spine and inadvertently presenting her breasts for manipulation.

Well, if she's offering…

Sapphire lets out a grunt of surprise that quickly turns into a one of satisfaction when Ruby starts sucking the water off of one dusky areola. By the time Ruby starts lightly scraping her teeth over the surface of one pebbled nipple, only to sooth it with a fat swipe of her tongue, Sapphire's panting pretty raggedly. She's close. Ruby smirks as she moves to kiss the valley between the darker woman's breasts—it's not hard to make Sapphire finish, but that doesn't mean she doesn't take pride in it, because she does every time.

"Please, Ruby," is all Sapphire has to say.

Ruby's thumb pops out and starts rubbing at her clitoris as her fingers keep pumping, and within the minute Sapphire is letting out a hearty moan and her searing vaginal walls are pulsating around Ruby's fingers in orgasm. Ruby doesn't stop there, of course—getting at least one more orgasm out of Sapphire like this should be easy, and she likes doing it. At first Sapphire seems quite happy to go along with this plan, arching her back and grasping Ruby's hair to keep her mouthing at her breasts. Then she realizes something. Ruby can feel it in the way her body tenses. All of a sudden, Sapphire is lowering her foot and straightening up. Her hand moves from Ruby's hair to her neck as the other one wraps itself around her rear, and their eyes meet.

"I love you," she murmurs just before she initiates a meticulous, slow burning kiss that makes Ruby's extremities tingle and the neglected ache between her thighs more pronounced.

"Sapph," says Ruby when those full lips make their lingering retreat. She can't help the way her gaze zeros in on them, though, already thinking about tasting them again.

"Shh, I know, baby," she says, leaning in and kissing along Ruby's jaw. She swipes over the skin with the edge of her tongue before tugging ever so slightly with her teeth. Ruby feels her lips pull into a smile at the little grunt the action inspires. She leaves more openmouthed kisses as she moves lower, going towards Ruby's collar. In the meanwhile, she rubs three fingers through Ruby's vulva with purposeful slowness. The hand on Ruby's ass squeezes just before it readjusts. Sapphire is now gripping at her thigh as if she's planning on lifting Ruby in the air.

"Sapph," Ruby says again, but that's before Sapphire ducks down and leaves wet kisses over both breasts. She doesn't pause in her rubbing, but while it's good it's also leisurely, and not a little maddening for all of that.

"I know, I'm getting there," Sapphire says as she rubs a soothing palm along Ruby's side and kisses down her sternum and abdomen. "God, you're so wet, I love it."

It feels like it takes months before Sapphire is kneeling before her in the bathtub, kissing at her pelvic bone as she drapes Ruby's leg around her shoulder. Then finally, _finally_ she replaces the slow rubbing of her fingers with the flat of her tongue. Ruby thought she was ready for it, but the reality of the sensation has her choking on her own breath. "God—fuck." She braces her forearm against the shower wall and leans her forehead into it. Sapphire's being a fucking tease, as she is wont to do at times, but Ruby feels her climax building up with each slow lick at her labia, the affectionate stroking along her thigh and the curve of her backside. A part of her wants to demand it now, but the rest of her is just relishing this. It's a deliciously conflicting way to feel.

"S-Sapph…" she sighs. Her voice is lost to the water falling around them, but if the noise Sapphire makes into her is indicative of anything then she's somehow heard and laughed anyway.

Wait.

Ruby can't quite concentrate over the distraction of oral sex, much less hear over the water, but she can certainly feel Sapphire making another sound, right over her clitoris. It inspires a bodily shudder, and she has to lean harder against the wall for support.

It's hard to see what's going on around the sodden yellow of Sapphire's hair, but the way her free arm is moving…

Yes, Sapphire is definitely masturbating right now. She is rubbing one out and moaning into Ruby's vagina as she licks her apart at the same time.

The worst part? It's fucking working. The muscles in the leg Ruby's still standing on are quivering, and it takes effort to keep from slumping. Sapphire's pace may be unhurried, but the vibrations from her moans are making every second so _potent_.

It isn't until Sapphire is fingering her in addition to the moaning and licking that the crest of Ruby's orgasm finally crashes over her like—well, like water. Her nerves are alight, and she can feel herself clenching, shuddering, and clenching again as she gasps and groans and leans ever harder against the shower wall. Let it never be said that Sapphire isn't thorough, because she works Ruby through every twitch and tremble of the aftermath before finally drawing back and smacking her lips with a grin.

Ruby slips her somewhat unsteady leg from Sapphire's shoulder and drags the blonde woman up to initiate an uncoordinated but otherwise meaningful kiss. Sapphire tastes like her instead of orange chicken now, and she's smiling as she cups the back of Ruby's neck and nuzzles her nose into her wet cheek. "Let's wash you up and get out of here," she says, kissing Ruby's chin. "The water's starting to run cold."

She's right, it is. Ruby had been far too distracted to notice.

The rest of the shower is actually all business as usual, and they finish rather quickly. At this point Sapphire has spent the night at the apartment so much that she has a towel on the bar that's all hers (she has a toothbrush in the medicine cabinet, too). The towel's primary purpose is twisting her wet hair up and out of the way, though, Ruby's noticed—she tends to let the rest air dry, particularly on nights (mornings?) like this, when they have the two bedroom apartment to themselves. For her part, Ruby has her towel wrapped around her torso and the loose end tucked under her armpit, like a normal person.

Without having to discuss it, they make a pit stop in the kitchen and grab pints of water before trooping into Ruby's room and tossing their dirty clothes in the plastic laundry basket by the closet. There's no real reason to close the bedroom door when the apartment is going to be empty for the foreseeable future, but Ruby does it anyway out of habit.

As soon as they've set their glasses down on the shelf of the bookcase next to Ruby's bed, Ruby finds herself being pushed onto the mattress. Her damp curls are chilly as they splay out under her neck and ears, but Sapphire's lips are soft and warm as she crawls over and kisses the hinge of her jaw. With her hair tucked into a towel, Sapphire is all dangling breasts and bracing limbs, her brown skin clammy and raised from the half-dried water. She shifts so that she can pull Ruby's towel open and pass her hand over her breast and down her abdomen. Her tongue flicks over an artery as she kisses Ruby's neck. One of her knees bumps between Ruby's thighs, and she lowers her weight so that Ruby can feel a heat that has nothing to do with showers or ambient room temperatures.

Ruby runs her hands down Sapphire's sides and over her hips, smearing what's left of the water as she goes; she sighs Sapphire's name as she tilts her chin to give the taller woman more room to work.

Sapphire smiles into her. She plants a slow kiss on the angle of Ruby's shoulder, and another on her collarbone. In one deft movement, she hooks Ruby's leg with her foot and brings it to wrap around her knee.

"I love you," she murmurs again, pressing the words into Ruby's skin like a tattoo or a prayer. There is a wet sound as her fingers slip into Ruby's vulva, and Ruby sucks in a sharp breath as they rotate over her clitoris. If this were happening thirty minutes from now, she'd probably be all for it, but as things are she's a little too sensitive from her last orgasm for this touch to be anything but too much. This just isn't how her body works, and Sapphire _knows_ that.

Sapphire stops when she feels Ruby tensing, but she doesn't seem to know what to do when she's rolled onto her back and it is Ruby sitting next to her hip and hovering over her. The towel on her head has officially been knocked askew, and some of her damp blonde tresses are slipping out, but they haven't fully escaped yet. When their eyes meet, Sapphire's are wide and her lips are slightly parted like she wants to say something, except she doesn't. Ruby even waits for it, but even then: nothing.

She wishes Sapphire would speak. There are a lot of words falling over themselves in Ruby's head right now. Her mind is a jumbled mess. She doesn't feel violated as much as confused. It's not like she doesn't appreciate the attention, it's just that Sapphire's attention doesn't usually feel like this. Like—like she's desperate. Like she wants to prove through this touch that her feelings are real. Doesn't she know that Ruby stopped doubting them a long time ago?

And if she doesn't know?

That's stupid. Of course she knows. Since when has Ruby ever been anything but transparent? Even when she's actually trying to hide something, she's a terrible liar.

If she truly knows, would they really be here right now?

Out of all the things Ruby could say—all of the things she _wants_ to say—the only thing that comes out is a soft, "Sapphire, why does this feel like an apology?"

"It's not supposed to," Sapphire replies. "I just wanted to make you feel better."

The resignation in Sapphire's face—the heavy tone of her voice, like she's already thrown her hands up in defeat—chills Ruby to the core.

"That's an apology," says Ruby. Sapphire's bangs have escaped the towel by this point, and they're laying over her cheek and forehead at a cockeyed angle. She doesn't seem to notice or care, but Ruby brushes them out of the way now, the tips of her fingers brushing over smooth skin. "What are you apologizing for?"

At first Sapphire only blinks. But then she blinks again, more rapidly this time. Ruby watches her swallow as her good eye gets shiny. "I didn't mean to dump all of this shit on you," she says. Her voice is thick, but it doesn't get small the way that Ruby's does when she's emotionally compromised. She just sounds vulnerable, like a suit of armor forged out of glass.

Ruby is perplexed. "What, you mean the moving thing?"

"Yes, Ruby, the moving thing." She sits up so fast that her towel tumbles off her head completely. Her hair, dark and stringy with moisture, falls about her shoulders to make her look like some kind of mermaid. It would be something to focus on, except the vulnerability in her voice has disappeared. Instead Sapphire speaks in a tone that's low and scathing and altogether too well controlled. "The thing we've been fighting about all night, remember?"

Ruby flinches at her tone, reeling from the emotional whiplash. She's not usually on the receiving end of it.

Then she scowls, because she _really_ doesn't like being spoken to like she's a moron. "Oh, are we still fighting about it?" she says scathingly. "Would you feel better if I ranted and raved and kicked things? Is that what you'd prefer?" At this point Ruby's close to doing that anyway. How is it that Sapphire can make her both happier and angrier than she's ever been?

"I _hurt_ you, Ruby. I did the thing you hate most—I lied to you, however inadvertently, but you're acting like it's nothing! Why aren't you angrier?"

If this were any other situation, perhaps Ruby might have noticed the irony in it. Sapphire, who knows her so well that she never needs to be told how she's broken Ruby's greatest taboo; who is clearly punishing herself more than Ruby ever would—how is _she_ the one trying to draw emotion out of Ruby now? It should be the other way around, right?

Perhaps if Ruby were in any other situation the irony would be obvious, but as things are she's too wrapped up to see it.

"Because I don't expect you to be perfect, Sapphire!" shouts Ruby, throwing her arm to the side. "Neither of us have done this before—and you said yourself you were scared of what I'd say. Who the hell am I to hold that against you?" Ruby softens, the memories of her own anxieties from six months ago coming back full force, along with Sapphire's response to them. "Yeah, it happened, and that sucks. But it's not like I don't get it." When she reaches out, Sapphire doesn't flinch. Instead, she leans into the hand that cups her cheek, covers Ruby's knuckles to hold her there. "We said we'd work on it," she says gently. "What more can I ask for?"

Sapphire closes her eyes and turns until her lips brush against Ruby's palm. "I'm sorry for causing this whole mess. _Twice_. I just…" She lets out a breath and buries herself a little deeper into Ruby's hand. When Ruby pulls her into an embrace, Sapphire is quick to transition. She presses her face into the crook of Ruby's shoulder as her arms wind around Ruby's waist, and she goes completely boneless as Ruby strokes her damp hair back. The skin on skin contact is warm and comforting, steadying and appropriately exposed, and Ruby can't help but think of a similarly vulnerable embrace that happened at the end of their third date, almost a year ago now.

Still, Ruby can't resist. "You just what?" she asks.

It takes Sapphire a moment to reply. When she does, however, it's muttered like she's ashamed of herself, "I really thought I was doing right by you with this. It didn't feel right to just—take, like I normally do."

Ruby doesn't understand that she's talking about sex right away, but once she does it honestly explains a lot of her behavior tonight. Sapphire's actions haven't been uncharacteristic or forced, per se—she didn't do anything she hadn't wanted to; Ruby would have noticed if that were the case—but it hasn't exactly been instinctual for her, either. She's been intentionally defying the normal patterns their copulation falls into all night, and while that's not necessarily a bad thing the fact that she was doing it as a form of supplication _is_. Sex should never be an apology—it should never be anything more than an act of mutualism. Anything less would turn it into power play, and that's not why Ruby's here.

"I don't think you 'take'," says Ruby. "You just receive what I would have given anyway."

Sapphire makes a noise in her throat. It's either a suppressed laugh or a sound of disapproval, and it's strangely difficult to tell the difference between the two right now. "Taking and receiving are synonymous with each other, Ruby."

"No—well, technically yes, but not in this context." Sapphire doesn't resist when Ruby guides her to lie down. Her blue eyes don't exactly widen when Ruby sits next to her hip and braces her arms on either side of her head, either, but a part of her does seem surprised that this is still happening. "If you were really 'taking', then you would be demanding something that wouldn't have happened naturally. That's not how things are between us, Sapph. I have never felt that way with you."

"But you always…" she trails off. Ruby doesn't really need her to say it, though.

She nuzzles into Sapphire's cheek, presses her lips ever so lightly into the corner of her mouth. "Because I like making you happy."

"Well, so do I!"

"And you do, Sapphire. You already _have_." Ruby pulls her head up and grins, raunchy and partially teasing. "Or do you not remember how hard you made me come in the shower?"

This inspires the sort of flush that Ruby really wishes she could frame. It's perfect. "Of course I remember," mutters Sapphire.

"Then why are you treating this like you haven't already done everything I need?" When this inspires a somewhat disgruntled expression, Ruby adds wryly, "If you had wanted to take your time working me over, you know you could have done it. _I'm_ not the one who asked for the rushed delivery."

At first Sapphire frowns, unimpressed, but then her expression changes, becomes proding and cautious. "You're really okay?"

The _I'd understand if you weren't_ goes unspoken, but Ruby still hears it. She smiles, trying to convey reassurance. Security. _Something_. "Babe, I'm pretty much done 'til morning."

Well, at this rate they won't wake up until mid-afternoon, technically speaking, but Ruby trusts Sapphire to understand that the word 'morning' is relative.

"That's not what I meant," Sapphire says when Ruby leans in, fully expecting to be able to initiate a kiss. She pushes Ruby's shoulder back just enough to reestablish eye contact. "Not entirely. If you're still upset with me, Ruby, then I want to know."

Ruby starts to say something, but then stops to reevaluate her answer. This is obviously important to Sapphire, and she doesn't want to pretend to be something she's not. "I'm not upset anymore," she says finally, and she flashes a smile she sincerely hopes isn't too toothy. "Shit happens, Sapphy. Neither of us have done anything like this before; we're bound to make mistakes as we go along."

At first Sapphire just looks at her. In a blink her lips are trembling and her good eye has once again gotten shiny with emotion. That's when the words fall out, "You really don't expect me to be perfect."

Ruby hadn't thought about what that statement could mean to Sapphire until now. For someone who spent the majority of her life pleasing everybody else, trying to be the woman her supportive-but-presumptuous family and teachers expected her to be, being explicitly told you aren't expected to be perfect must feel strange.

"No, I don't," says Ruby. She doesn't know how much longer she can stand the heavy atmosphere, though, so she shrugs her shoulders and says with a smile, "I hear perfection's pretty overrated, anyway. Where's the excitement if we aren't shouting over a miscommunication every six months, right?"

Sapphire lets out a little laugh, but when she blinks the tear that threatened to fall earlier finally squeezes out and rolls down her cheek. She makes a little noise in her throat when Ruby leans in and softly kisses it away. "Ru…"

Ruby replies with a kiss on the lips, and she hopes Sapphire doesn't mind. She's never been good with these kinds of words. To be fair, she's not exactly a guru about communicating with body language, either, but between the two the latter is definitely her strong suit.

Slowly, she maneuvers herself until they are lying next to each other, their bodies pressed flush. Ruby has herself propped up on one elbow while she cups Sapphire's cheek in her right hand. Sapphire strokes down the length of Ruby's spine and curls her fingers over her backside, squeezing and drawing Ruby closer while the other hand pulls at her knee, tugging her on top bit by bit.

Perhaps it would make sense for the kiss to become heated, lusty or ferocious, but it doesn't. It stays the same gentle mashing of lips, meticulous caressing of tongues; it's not that the action is bereft of want, this is simply more than their interacting bodies. They are having a conversation without words—and it's a productive one, if Ruby says so herself.

"Do you realize how much I fucking adore you?" murmurs Ruby before she's fully decided to say it. She's hovering over Sapphire now, her damp curls dangling about her cheeks like a springy curtain. "I love you so much it's not even funny."

Without speaking, Sapphire reaches up and grazes her fingers down the side of Ruby's cheek. Her gaze is tender. Floored. Even her prosthetic right eye, usually so indifferent, seems softened by this confession.

For some reason, this makes Ruby grimace. "I know I don't really say it a lot, but it's true," she says—because if Sapphire doesn't already, then she absolutely needs to hear it now. "I—I don't know if I'd be okay with being separated. If I couldn't see you all the time, if we couldn't do things like this…"

"Ruby," Sapphire says softly. She slips her fingers through Ruby's hair, kneads along her scalp. Ruby finds herself leaning into the contact like a cat, wordlessly asking for more. "I'm not asking for an answer tonight. You deserve to have time to think about it."

Ruby shakes her head. "Sapph, I really don't think sleeping on it is going to change what this feels like. When I said I wanted to be your partner, no matter what, I meant it."

"These aren't normal circumstances," Sapphire says quietly. "You shouldn't feel obligated. No matter what stupid co-dependent shit I end up saying, I never want you to feel like you have to do something this big for my sake."

"See, that's the thing," says Ruby. She leans down until the tips of their noses graze and they are sharing the same air. It is intimate here, not crowded at all. "If this is a co-dependency issue, then I'm in just as much trouble as you are. I don't need to try it to know I'd be miserable without you, Sapph, and I'd just as soon not open up that can of worms at all."

Ruby doesn't expect Sapphire to surge up and crush their lips together so suddenly—she certainly doesn't expect Sapphire to taste like overwhelming affection and relief and _thank you_ , but for all that she didn't see this coming she really doesn't mind. The passion they have been holding back for the majority of this conversation is rushing out in full force now. Sapphire kisses her like this is their first time, clumsy but eager, always moving closer. She pulls Ruby until they are lined up from their hair to their hipbones, pulls down and pushes upwards until it almost feels like they are melting together, slowly morphing into a single entity. They kiss like they've only just discovered each other and satisfaction is no longer a word that exists in their vocabularies.

For all of that, Ruby feels Sapphire's eyelashes flicker against her cheek with surprising delicacy, and when she captures the blonde woman's soft lower lip in a light kiss she feels Sapphire's breath catch in her throat.

"I need you," Sapphire says. Her voice is breathy, but certain. Just that one statement carries so many layers of sentiment that Ruby frankly doesn't have the time or energy to decode it all right now, but she doesn't really need to, either. She knows Sapphire so well that she already has an implicit understanding of what she means, every bit of it.

Ruby knows that Sapphire cares. That in itself was not an easy conclusion to come to. Ruby's never exactly been the sort of person other folks go out on a limb for. In the overcrowded inner city public schools, overworked and underpaid teachers gave up on her before she could start (and then everybody wondered why Ruby gave up on school). The foster homes she bounced between until she was eighteen never thought to recognize her as anything more than a rough 'n' tumble troublemaker, if she was anything to them at all. State representatives saw her as just another number. Patrons in BC's Club see her as just another troublesome dyke. Past girlfriends either hadn't taken her seriously enough or had been scared away by the intensity of her personality. Her temper is fiery, her hands are scarred from too many fights, she's not conventionally pretty, and she swears like a sailor. To be fair, Ruby doesn't think she does too much to make herself approachable or likable.

To say that Sapphire is constantly shocking her with the depth and potency of how much she cares isn't exactly true these days, but it used to be. It's only been recently that Ruby has been able to look at her girlfriend and not have to wonder how one-sided this really is, and while Sapphire has done a lot to help her get to this point the fact she wasn't there to begin with had never been because of anything Sapphire herself had done.

Well, no matter how she got to this point, these days Ruby can't deny that Sapphire likes her and wants her around—but all of those nuanced needs? Hearing it spoken like this, in a situation as emotionally raw as this, brings up a kind of warmth within Ruby that she can't explain. No one else has the ability to make her feel this safe, this comfortable, this cherished.

 _No,_ Ruby thinks. _There is no way in hell I'm giving something like this up_.

If that means trying to figure out the difference between a passport and a visa (if there even is one, because Ruby sure as fuck doesn't know), then so be it. She's done a lot more for much less, and what she has with Sapphire is worth fighting for.

Nevertheless, Ruby knows Sapphire too well not to recognize a demand for sexual favors when she hears it. How her partner is able to impart the deeply emotional with the raw and physical is admittedly a bit of a mystery, but Ruby is nothing if not obedient.

"No," says Sapphire as Ruby's right hand reaches between them. She grabs Ruby's wrist to hold her back. "The other one."

Ruby pauses. She's naturally left handed, it's true, but ever since the butterfly knife incident her dominant hand has been clumsy, prone to random muscle spasms and stretches of time where the nerve endings in her fingers just sort of go on vacation. Over the years she's used right hand to the point where she's basically ambidextrous, and in all honesty Sapphire has never really shown a preference before now.

"I actually don't know how well that'll go," Ruby confesses, shifting her weight so that she can lean on her right arm and flex her left hand. She shakes it out, but alas, nothing changes. "I can't really feel my fingers right now, so it would be pretty clumsy."

The look in Sapphire's eyes is oddly arousing. It's a mix between being eager and fully informed. "I want that one," she says.

Ruby doesn't miss the implication that the discoordination of her scarred hand is preferable. It's pretty fucking blatant.

"I don't know whether or not to be insulted," she says, albeit with good humor. "You _prefer_ it when I don't have control?"

"It takes you places you don't normally go," says Sapphire. She, too, has a little bit of a grin on her face, anticipation mixed with amusement at Ruby's reaction. "I like it."

Ruby lets out a laugh that's also a bit of a groan. "I still don't know how to take that, but okay, Princess. You'll get what you want."

"Good." And Sapphire lies back expectantly.

Her partner is spoiled rotten, clearly, but it's basically all Ruby's fault. Most days Sapphire doesn't even have to articulate what she wants before Ruby is giving it to her. Ruby likes to think she's not whipped as much as cleverly preemptive, but sometimes the excuse falls just short of believability.

On the bright side, if this is what it's like to be whipped it's actually not so bad. Ruby positively delights in reducing Sapphire to a puddle of orgasmic goo—and if Sapphire thinks her scarred left hand is the ticket to it tonight, then who is she to argue?

When Ruby kisses her this time, Sapphire kisses back as if she's already somehow on the brink of climax, sloppy and sincere, and there is something really fucking erotic about that.

Sapphire is wet like she's wanted to be touched for quite a while. Gratuitously slick noises fill the air as Ruby's fingers prod into her and begin to move. Sapphire's lean thighs spring apart to make room for her, and Ruby figures that teasing would be kind of cruel at this point. Besides, she loves the way that Sapphire has started panting and arching under her. As Ruby kisses at the dip behind her collarbone, a soft and entirely un-self-conscious moan leaves her partner's throat. _"Yes_ , just like that."

Ruby grins into her skin as her fingers start moving faster. She doesn't have the dexterity that she's used to, and the sensations of Sapphire's heat and sleekness are muted like her hand has fallen asleep, so sometimes she misjudges exactly what she's moving against, but every time she makes a mistake Sapphire's breathing only comes heavier. The taller woman's knees could not be spread further apart if they tried. If she's already as close as Ruby thinks, this might be all it takes to push her over the edge. She adds a third finger, just for good measure, and the throaty noise Sapphire makes as her body adjusts to this fresh invasion is nothing short of erotic.

Sure enough, Sapphire doesn't even require clitoral stimulation before she is biting off a hearty moan and shivering palpably under Ruby's body in orgasm. "Oh, god, baby, don't stop," she orders in this breathless voice that Ruby can only grin and say yes to. It feels like she's already close to another one, anyway—at least, the muscles in her thighs are flexing like she is.

Ruby isn't wrong. It only takes a couple short minutes of dedicated fingering before Sapphire is finishing again. By this point Ruby is scraping her teeth at the underside of her perfect brown breasts and feeling pointed tugs at her still-soggy curls whenever she kisses an areola just right. Sapphire's leg is also between her thighs and grinding against her own sex—not hard, but just enough to make Ruby think she might actually not need until morning to be ready again after all.

By the time Sapphire has had her fourth orgasm of the night, Ruby's hand is getting tired. This is making it clumsier than usual, which is receiving increasingly enthusiastic responses, but she can't keep it up forever.

Sapphire's hand stays tangled in her hair as she lifts her head, and Ruby has to giggle at the utterly glazed expression on her partner's face. It clears up some when Ruby's three fingers stop their distracting ministrants, but Sapphire's response to the kiss that Ruby hauls herself up to initiate is still sleepy and languid.

"You okay, Sapphy?" she asks, half-teasing. She brushes Sapphire's half-dried blonde bangs off her forehead with her right hand.

Sapphire smiles and hums, and her fingers sift contentedly through Ruby's curls. Her eyes are half-lidded with lust. "Your fortune cookie was right about you, you know," she mumbles. "You _are_ gifted in bed. No one would have taken me seriously if I had talked about it, but I sort of wanted to."

The guffaw catches Ruby off guard. She presses her nose into Sapphire's arm as she is wracked with giggles, her shoulders bouncing. "Oh god, Sapph, you're so out of it right now," she says, wiping tears of mirth from her eyes. "I'd say I'm sorry, except I'm not. Want to put the towels away and go to bed?"

"Actually…"

Ruby quirks her eyebrows. She's torn between flattery and amusement, because she already knows where Sapphire is going with this. "Uh huh," she says, leaning on her elbow next to girlfriend's head (on a chunk of her chilly wet hair, actually). Still, she can't resist playfully walking her fingers up the length of her partner's lean brown belly. "You really think you could handle getting head right now?"

Sapphire turns her fat pupil upon Ruby before she says, "That's what I was thinking about earlier, in the shower."

It takes a second for Ruby to understand that she's referring to when she was masturbating, specifically. That's about when her mouth goes dry. "You want it that badly, huh," she still says.

"Yes," says Sapphire. There is no shame in her voice, and while her face is flushed prettily with arousal there is no embarrassment in her demeanor, either. "I know you like doing it."

She's right, Ruby does. Eating Sapphire out has actually become a bit of a closing ritual for the two of them.

Sapphire isn't embarrassed, but she is grinning a little in excited anticipation. Ruby hasn't even spoken, but she already knows what's coming next.

For herself, Ruby can only chortle in the face of the inevitable. She presses a quick kiss to Sapphire's full mouth before navigating down her torso.

She also cannot resist the urge to blow the mother of all raspberries into the blonde woman's navel. The quickly stifled shriek of surprise and laughter is, in Ruby's opinion, its own reward.

"Ruby, what the hell!" The cry might have been more indignant, if Sapphire weren't laughing through it.

Ruby, kneeling between her thighs, just shrugs. She can already feel that she's losing the fight to keep a straight face. "Seemed like the thing to do at the time."

"God damnit, Ruby." Still, Sapphire's belly and breasts are shaking with laughter as she rubs at her face in mostly cosmetic exasperation. "Of course it did."

"It was either that or asking you whether or not you were a magician."

"Why would you ask that?" The second Sapphire finishes the question, realization blooms across her face.

Before she can ruin it, Ruby delivers the punchline with relish: "Because abrica-DAYUM!"

This inspires another bout of laughter, punctuated by loud, inelegant snorts that set Ruby into a fit of mirth all her own. She's not entirely sure whether or not Sapphire knees her in the side on purpose, but she's going to assume it was a laughter-based accident.

"That wasn't even funny!" insists Sapphire.

"Methinks the lady doth protest too much," Ruby retorts, bracing her hands on either side of Sapphire's hips and leaning forward until they are face to face. "Also, methinks you're giggling too goddamn hard to get away with telling me it wasn't funny. It was obviously fucking hilarious."

"Oh, yes," Sapphire deadpans. "Ruby: master of non sequitur pickup lines."

"That's Master of Comedy to _you."_

Sapphire snorts again, and she can't seem to help smiling as she sits up and tugs on Ruby's elbows to draw her in for a kiss. "So help me, but I love your stupid sense of humor."

"I always knew it."

"I seem to recall an expression of complete and utter shock the first time you noticed me laughing at one of your corny puns."

Ah, yes, Ruby also remembers that conversation. It was during a barbeque on the roof of this very apartment building about two years ago. The pun had been about how flaming Sapphire's name was. Not one of her best, admittedly, but at the time it had been enough to send the taller woman into hysterics. "I was testing you. Obviously."

"Obviously," says Sapphire, though it's plain she doesn't believe what's she's saying even a little bit.

"Now is that any way to talk to the woman that's about to go down on you?"

"You know how to make me shut up."

Ruby… actually doesn't have a decent retort for that. "Touché," she says, because banter is no good if you're going to be a sore loser about it.

"Thank you," Sapphire grins. She's still grinning as she leans forward and presses their lips together. Ruby, who is still kneeling on the mattress between her knees, touches her slender sides and strokes her back as the kiss becomes heated. Soon Sapphire isn't grinning, but rather pushing closer and closer, climbing into Ruby's lap, holding on with both hands. She's either searching for depth or losing herself in her own eagerness; right now, huffing air through their noses because they're both too stubborn to break apart long enough to take proper breaths, it's hard to tell the difference. Right now, Ruby really doesn't care, because both are just fine with her.

It doesn't feel like long before Ruby gives up on remaining upright and allows herself to fall back. Sapphire moves with her as if they are literally locked together, bracing her elbows on either side of Ruby's head and straddling her waist. Cool locks of hair slip over her shoulders and surround them like vertical blinds as they keep kissing. Ruby's hands rove over the curve of her partner's rear and over her thighs. Sapphire's teeth tug on her lower lip just hard enough to have an excuse to capture it in both of hers like an apology. Ruby doesn't know how much time passes like this, exactly, but there again it doesn't really matter.

"You still want to?" asks Sapphire as length. "It's okay if you don't."

Her cheeks are flushed; her hair is hanging in loose, lank chunks; the pupil of her good eye is fully dilated; and she's breathing unevenly. Her blue-eyed gaze is brimming with desire. Ruby loves seeing her unleashed like this, loves being confronted with Sapphire's unadulterated passion; there is, in her opinion, nothing sexier.

"I take it you still do?" says Ruby, but honestly at this point it's mostly just to get a reaction. The heat that's been emanating from Sapphire for the last several minutes has been very telling, let her tell you.

Sapphire nods without irony (well, without any self-awareness of it, anyway). "Now more than ever," she confesses. As if to prove her point, she rolls her hips downwards. She's sitting over Ruby's stomach, so there isn't really anything interesting to grind against, but she's already quite wet so Ruby suppose that does help her argument, at least a little.

To be honest, Ruby's sort of been looking forward to this. This may be a closing ritual, but there's a reason for that.

Sapphire can't seem to scramble into position fast enough when Ruby pats her side and asks her to move up. She's so excited she's positively glistening, and Ruby can't help smirking to herself as she gently spreads the sleeked lips of Sapphire's vulva apart. Ever so lightly, she rubs at the hardened nub of her clitoris with an index finger.

On either side of her head, the muscles in Sapphire's lean brown thighs tingle. Above her, she hears the blonde woman's breath catch. There is an utterly wanton whine when Ruby traces the shape of her labia.

"Ruby, _please_ don't tease me right now."

She sounds so desperate. How can Ruby possibly deny her after that.

Sapphire cries out when Ruby's delicate touches are suddenly replaced with fat swipes of her tongue. She leans back and braces her arms behind her, one fist digging into the mattress on Ruby's either side. Her half-dried hair pools on Ruby's stomach as her head tips back. Her hips jerk, and Ruby has to reach up and hold them in place before they start bucking. With that done, Ruby is free to start batting her girlfriend's clitoris around with her tongue—and she sets to it with a will.

Her mobility now hindered, Sapphire can only let out a low moan like this is the most delectable torture imaginable. She arches so far back that Ruby feels the crest of her blonde skull brush against her navel.

It isn't until Sapphire moans her name that Ruby hums around her clitoris and makes her come. She can't stop herself from rewarding the utterance.

It takes two more discrete orgasms before Sapphire is leaning forward, her face pressed into the comforter, panting heavily and riding out the endless, rolling climax that Ruby knows she likes so much. The muscles in her thighs keep clenching and unclenching on either side of Ruby's head as Sapphire struggles to keep herself from jerking about, but Ruby knows she's done when she just sort of… slumps. All of her limbs go limp and rubbery, and her hearty cries of pleasure devolve into breathy mewls. Sapphire is the type of person who can orgasm often and easily, but even she has her limits.

Does Ruby enjoy finding them, even pushing them on special occasions? Yes. Yes, she does.

As Ruby extracts herself, she leaves an affectionate kiss on the soft inside of her partner's thigh (though she can't resist nipping a little; it receives the most erotic of whimpers in response). Without a reason to hold herself aloft any longer, Sapphire collapses and sprawls out. She scarcely seems to notice when Ruby yanks the comforter out from under her, but she does make a little noise in her throat and tilt her head in Ruby's direction when it settles over her bare shoulders.

"Baby?"

It's hard to describe the way Sapphire's voice gets when she's satisfied. It's low and smoky and sexy as all get out, though, and Ruby fucking adores it.

"Yes, Sapphy?" she says as she sits up and reaches over to grab their glasses of water from the bookshelf. She knows that she's fairly dehydrated, so she can only imagine how bad it is for Sapphire right now.

It takes a moment before Sapphire forces herself to sit up and accept her pint glass. "Is it stuck?" she asks of her glass eye. It is wont to stick whenever the moisture in her body starts… going elsewhere, and sometimes she doesn't feel it.

Ruby shakes her head as she sips from her glass. "Looks good to me."

"I'm actually a little shocked," Sapphire admits just before draining her cup. "I'm a lot thirstier than usual."

It takes her a second to see Ruby's grin at her unintentional pun, but then she groans. "Shut up."

"I didn't say a word."

"You were thinking it loud enough that you didn't have to."

Ruby laughs just before drinking the rest of her own water. She takes Sapphire's glass from her and places them both back on the bookshelf, then hauls herself to her feet so she can turn off the light.

It feels like second nature, curling into each other under the blankets. Sapphire's soft chest makes for a great pillow, let Ruby tell you. She also doesn't mind the way that Sapphire plays with her hair, from this vantage point, tugging and idly twirling the tight curls around her fingers.

Of course, from this position it's impossible to miss the deep breath that Sapphire takes just before she says, "I looked into star gazing spots around Taipei, too."

"Of course you did." Ruby laughs a little, but she really can't deny how warm that thoughtfulness makes her feel. While they like being amateur astronomers together, it's Ruby who likes it that little bit more. Sapphire's not the one with the night sky app on her phone, after all.

"There are a couple of pretty decent spots away from the city," says Sapphire. "And they're all easily accessible by public transit. We wouldn't even have to drive."

"You mean _I_ wouldn't have to drive." Sapphire doesn't own a car; all of their transportation needs are handled with Ruby's '94 civic. Ruby doesn't mind it, honestly. Giving Sapphire rides is just another excuse to be around her (well, not that there is necessarily a shortage of quality time between them these days, but the point remains).

"Same difference, right?"

Ruby snorts at the joke, but doesn't say anything. Sapphire's heartbeat, so easy to feel just under her cheek, is going a little faster than usual, and she's not as relaxed as she usually is for positions like this. Ruby rubs the pad of her thumb over her partner's bare hipbone and waits. Sometimes this works.

"I really don't know if I'll get the job," Sapphire says at length. "I've been out of school for almost a year now, and I haven't gotten any more experience than I had when I left."

"You'll get it," Ruby says. "I already know it. They'd be stupid to pass you up."

Sapphire makes a noise like she appreciates the vote of confidence, but she really doesn't believe it.

"And besides, even if those schmucks can't see how great you are, I'm sure there will be six other companies willing to fight for a trilingual Latina who graduated top of her class, even if it's just to meet their diversity quotas."

So maybe Ruby's pride in Sapphire is kind of really freaking blatant. She doesn't see that as a bad thing, though—the way she sees it, if Sapphire can't be proud of herself, then someone has to be.

Sapphire surprises herself with her own laughter, Ruby can tell. "Just like my fortune cookie," she says. "Leading a useful life no matter the riches, even if it's just being the token brown woman?"

"Exactly!" Ruby pats her side in approval of her realization.

Sapphire laughs again. "It was an ironically appropriate fortune, all things considered."

"What's ridiculous to me is that you needed to be reminded at all."

"Don't tell me you actually _believe_ that shit, Ruby."

"Do I believe you received a magic prophecy from a cheap ass cookie we got in our takeout? No," says Ruby. "I do think it was a convenient reminder, though. I think it could be an inspiration."

Sapphire doesn't say anything for a moment, but then she murmurs, "I'm scared for the future. I want to move on, but at the same time a move that big is just—terrifying. Starting a job in my field is terrifying. What if I'm not good at it? What if I am? There are so many uncertainties."

And there is the heart of it. Ruby never went to college—she didn't even go to high school, honestly—so the semantics of it are a little over her head. The fear, though; she understands that very well.

"Well, for what it's worth," she says, lifting her head and looking at where she knows Sapphire's eyes are in the dark. "You're not going to go through it alone."

The sigh that leaves her partner is shaky, but relieved. "This isn't going to come out right, but I am so glad you said yes," she says.

Ruby smiles. Finding Sapphire's lips and gently kissing some of her trepidation away without a light to see by isn't near as awkward and clumsy as one might think. It's like Ruby just—knows.

"Oh yeah?" she asks. It's not really meant to be a question.

Sapphire answers as if it is anyway, "I feel like I can actually do this, despite everything, as long as you're with me."

"Well, we are a formidable team…"

Sapphire lets out a small giggle. She cups Ruby's face in her hands and softly presses their foreheads together. Ruby can feel that her eyes are closed, and for a moment they stay like this, just breathing together. "I love the idea of taking on the world with you, Ruby," she mumbles. "We _are_ a formidable team."

"See? That's what I've been trying to tell you." Ruby tilts her head and leaves a kiss on Sapphire's cheek. "Everything's going to be fine."

Perhaps this is all just symptomatic of the confidence given to her by being loved so strongly by another. Ruby can see that playing a part in it—the rest, though? That, she thinks, comes from the fact that this is solid, and good, and strong. As long as she and Sapphire are united, Ruby feels like they can do anything.

"I'm still scared," Sapphire confesses, her fingers caressing over Ruby's browbone. "There's so much to sort through."

"What, and you think I'm not? This city is all I've ever known, Sapph—how do you think I feel about signing myself up for some crazy ass adventure in Tai-fucking-wan, of all places? And you know I'm shit with languages—how long have I been trying to learn Spanish again?"

Sapphire lets out a laugh at Ruby's tone, so dry and to the point (it's not really her style, but damn if it didn't fit the situation just right). However, she sobers up rather faster than Ruby would have preferred. "You really don't have to," she says softly.

"I think we've already concluded that I really do—for my own sanity, if nothing else," says Ruby. "I think of it sort of like when I quit smoking: it won't be easy, but it's going to be so fucking worth it in the end." Sapphire starts to protest again, Ruby can tell, but she responds by nuzzling into her cheek and saying in a quiet mutter, "You've got me, Sapph, no matter what. That's not a promise I ever want to break, and you have no right to ask it of me."

The noise that Sapphire makes is something between a sigh of resignation and a little huff of laughter. "No, I suppose I don't," she says, and Ruby can hear the tiny, touched smile in her voice.

This next year is going to be very interesting. Ruby has no idea what's going to come next, really, and no amount of fortune cookies from greasy chinese takeout are going to be able to prepare her for it. Still, she will always have the stars above her head, and she's always going to have Sapphire. The most important things in her life will continue to be her constants. Really, Ruby thinks. If you look at it like that, it's not so bad.


End file.
